"TV ad volumes in unlock period surpasses pre-COVID volumes by 12%": BARC, Nielsen Report

BARC India and Nielsen Media explain the ‘Impact Of COVID-19 on TV viewership and smartphone behaviour across India (Edition 11)’ in the latest report.

BARC India and Nielsen released the eleventh edition of the report on ‘Crisis Consumption on TV and Smartphones’ today.

BARC India is the official currency on Television Measurement in India and Nielsen Media runs a 12,000 strong smartphone panel in India passively capturing smartphone behaviour.

Some of the Key Highlights of TV and Smartphone consumption are as follows: -

1. Total TV viewership has shown consistent growth in the last 12 weeks – Current week Daily Average Reach is 7 per cent higher and Average, Daily Time Spent is 13 per cent higher than pre-COVID period.

2. Growth in current week vs pre-Covid period is seen across both Primetime (3 per cent) and Non-Primetime (44 per cent) and also across HSM and South markets.

3. Overall smartphone usage is slightly lower than pre-COVID levels. The drop in the recent weeks is on account of time on banned apps getting reduced.

4. On TV, share of different genre is more or less back to pre-COVID levels – Original programming bringing back the GEC genre both in HSM and South Markets; News and Movies see a growth in Primetime.

5. On Smartphones - revival seen in shopping (surpasses Pre-COVID levels in recent weeks), Education and Video Conferencing continues to grow - almost 1 in 5 people accessing them, Overall time spent on Video Streaming returns to pre-COVID levels.

6. Independence Day event garnered 4.6 BN viewing minutes – highest viewership in last 2 years – also higher than all the previous PM addresses during COVID.

7. Live Telecast of Ayodhya Bhoomi Pujan garnered 7.3 BN viewing minutes.

8. On Content viewed on Smartphones - Sushant Singh starrer “Dil Bechara” tops Movie Charts in Week 1 of release, followed by action thriller “Khuda Hafiz”, “Mastram” continues to top the Original Series charts, followed by “Bandish Bandits”, “Dangerous” & “Aarya”, Share of time spent on Syndicated series on OTT increases as new programming resumes.

9. AD Volumes in Unlock period surpassed Pre-Covid Volumes by ~12% - Top 10 Advertiser inventory increased by 34% in Unlock period compared to Pre COVID period.

Read full report here:

COVID 19 - TV Smartphone Consumption During Crisis - Edition 11.pdf