With the seven-phase General Elections 2024 kicking off last week, news channels are experiencing a substantial surge in viewership, leading to a heightened demand for advertising inventory and a significant leap in revenue figures.

The news industry expects a 25-30% increase in ad revenue during Q1 compared to the previous year, and a projected 15-20% rise in H1 compared to last year's first half.

Advertisers, including political parties, candidates and advocacy groups, ramp up their advertising efforts during elections, making it a robust period for the TV news industry. 

According to a TAM AdEx report, during the 2019 elections, the news genre’s share in overall TV advertising stood at a whopping 29%. 

Revenue expectations

According to NDTV Network’s Revenue Head Mandeep Singh, the channel is expecting a growth of more than 30% on its top-line over Q1’24, largely driven by election-led momentum this year. 

Varun Kohli, Chief Executive Officer of Bharat Express shared they are expecting a minimum jump of 1/3rd in the revenue of this quarter compared to last year’s April-June quarter. When compared to the previous year’s April-June quarter, Kohli foresees a 50% jump in the revenue. 

“It is reassuring to see that when moments of national importance like the pandemic or general elections take place, both viewers and advertisers recognise the existing value of television news,” said Rishabh Gulati, Managing Editor, NewsX. 

Sharing a similar thought, Jitender Kumar, Chief Revenue Officer-Ad Sales at India Daily Live News, anticipates a 25-30% growth in advertising revenue for news channels in the first quarter compared to the previous year's Q1, attributing this surge to the Lok Sabha elections. 

He said, "All news channels are currently experiencing growth because of the election period in Q1. Particularly during the election time, the growth in the first half is expected to be around 20%.”

India Daily Live News, launched last year in July, aims to achieve a revenue of Rs 3.5-Rs 4 crore in Q1. "Our primary strength lies in the rural market. Therefore, in the first quarter, we are likely to achieve revenue of Rs 3.5-Rs 4 crores, and in the first half, revenue is projected to be around Rs 9 - 10 crore," said a senior executive from the channel.

According to Karan Taurani, SVP, Elara Capital, the news industry sees a growth of about 5-6% due to elections. “The TV news industry’s business is close to about Rs 3000 crore and has a steady state growth of about 4-5%.”

“When election year comes, you see a growth of about 8-10% or rather 10%. Elections provide a boost of Rs 150-200 crores for the overall industry,” he added.

Impact on ad inventory

The heightened demand for advertising space during elections can lead to a scarcity of available slots, especially during prime time and during live coverage of key events like debates and election nights. 

Added Singh, “Categories such as FMCG, Auto, Consumer Durables, Mobile Handsets, Infrastructure have added incremental volumes to our channels this election season. We are expecting ad volumes to soar by 25-30%.”

Kohli of Bharat Express shared that the ad inventory increases by 10-20% over normal advertising days. But he suggests almost all news broadcasters are prepared for this period and hence, management of inventory is not really a problem. 

The ad rate surge

With increased demand comes higher advertising rates. Industry insiders have revealed that during elections, some news channels increase ad rates by more than 50%, while others hike them 100%. Additionally, it's noteworthy that on counting day, inventory is sold at premium rates and it could go up by 200%.  

For instance, a leading Hindi news channel that generally sells 10-second slots for Rs 5,000 is now selling them at Rs 75,000-Rs 80,000. Similarly, another Hindi news channel that sells ad slots for Rs 2,000 is now selling them at Rs 50,000-60,000. Smaller news channels, which sell slots for Rs 1,000-1,500, are now selling them at Rs 20,000.

In an earlier conversation with e4m, Zee had shared they see a hike of 15-20% in ad rates during the election period. 

NDTV has a substantial premium carried on important days like Polling, Exit Poll, Special election led initiatives, counting and Government formation. Their ad rates have shot upwards of 3-4x on special election content and special days.

Counting Day inventory is also quite robust for NDTV as advertiser interest is very promising this election season. Our ad rates are expected to be 20-25x of our regular channel rates,” added Singh.