Ram temple grabs eyeballs, spikes ad rates for news TV

The consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on 22 January brought substantial advertising and viewership gains for news channels, particularly the ones focused on the Hindi heartland.

- Latajha 

Such a spike is usually seen on a general election counting day, media experts said.

While viewership, split with digital platforms (mainly YouTube), is estimated to have spiked 10-15% on linear TV alone, advertising rates were three to four times higher, especially for mass-market brands, most of which found space on L-bands operating during coverage of the ceremony, with news channels taking fewer ad breaks.

L-band TV advertising is the L-shaped ads played on TV screens along with the content or programme for 10 seconds.

Interestingly, news channels reduced their ad volumes to increase stickiness, but the surge in ad rates more than made up for the loss.

Advertising volumes on news channels fell 14% on the temple inauguration day from 21 January, meaning fewer ad breaks were taken, according to data from AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research.