Radio sees 14% growth in political ad insertions till Mar 16; TV sees 83% drop

Contrary to various projections, Radio has witnessed a significant growth in ad insertions by political parties in the lead-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. This was revealed by Adex India, a division of TAM Media Research, in its cumulative weekly tracker for the General Elections 2019 for the period January 1 to March 16, 2019. 

As per the findings, ad insertion for political parties grew 14 per cent on Radio, whereas it is 9 per cent less in Print and 83 per cent less on TV till March 16, 2019, compared to the same period of the previous Lok Sabha Elections, that is, 2014. 

Ad insertion trend of political ads in the first 3 weeks of 2019 for TV and Print were almost the same. On the other hand, for the first 6 weeks of 2019, Radio medium was the least preferred for political ads. But from Week 7 to Week 10, political ad insertions were the highest on Radio, compared to other mediums. 

Ad insertions for political ads were the highest on TV during Week 5 and Week 11 of 2019, compared to other mediums. 

Meanwhile, ad insertions for political ads in print were the highest for the first 4 weeks of the year and then trailed behind the others for a couple of weeks before picking up again in Week 6. 

Bharatiya Janata Party dominated the political parties with combined ad insertions across TV, Print and Radio with a 53 per cent share. 

Congress trails behind in second place in combined ad insertions across TV, Print and Radio with a 14 per cent share.