TV advertising by auto sector jumps 33%

TV advertising by the automobile sector saw a 33 per cent jump in 2009 as the world's second fastest growing market heated up with the entrance of new companies and the launch of a variety of models by existing manufacturers.

The auto sector contributed four per cent of the overall ad volumes in 2009.

According to AdEx India research, the highest TV advertising was seen in the passenger vehicles segment, while the two-wheeler market leader Hero Honda maintained its lead as the top advertiser in the industry for two years in a row (2008 and 2009). From 2008 rankings, TVS Motors claimed the second spot, up from the third in the top ten advertisers rankings. Mahindra & Mahindra moved up dramatically to the third spot from ninth on the back of large ad volumes generated by the Mahindra Xylo campaign in 2009. However, car market leader Maruti Suzuki maintained its fourth spot. Tata Motors dropped to the fifth place in 2009 from the second, while the big mover, Fiat India, moved up nine spots to the sixth position from fifteenth. Among the top ten new automobile brands advertised, Mahindra Xylo got the top spot with the biggest volumes, followed by the Fiat Linea, the TVS Apache RTR 180, the TVS Scooty Streak, the Hero Honda Karizma ZMR, the Bajaj XCD 135 and the Fiat Punto.

In terms of growth of TV advertising across segments, the scooterettes segment posted the highest growth at 59 per cent, followed by motorcycles (52 per cent), tractors (37 per cent), passenger vehicles (29 per cent) and commercial vehicles (16 per cent). The high growth in advertising posted by the two-wheeler manufacturers can be seen from the fact that the four major players, Hero Honda, Bajaj, TVS and Yamaha, are all among the top ten advertisers. Moreover, seven of the top ten new brands advertised in 2009 were from the two-wheeler category.

Of the overall advertising in the sector, passenger vehicles had the largest, 44 per cent, share, while motorcycles followed with 42 per cent. All other sectors had an advertising share in the single digit.

In terms of celebrity endorsements, Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan led with a huge 41 per cent share, followed by cricketer Yuvraj Singh, and Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra at 14 per cent each, and Bollywood hero Shah Rukh Khan and cricketer M. S. Dhoni at 7 per cent each.

Source: indiacar.com Source : Business Line (Online Edition) (4/12/2010)