Traditional media ad revenues still ahead of digital in India
Print, press and TV are the first port of call for Indian advertisers, with digital seen as a complementary service. In 2016, print advertising generated INR201.3bn ($3bn) in revenues, newspapers INR289.9bn, while TV generated INR201.2bn, according to data from KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce. It is also expected that India's share of the global newspaper market will rise from 2.4% in 2013 to 3.4% in 2018. Despite this, experts have predicted that digital will follow the western model and eventually overtake traditional media.

Despite massive digital penetration, print, press and TV have been the mainstay for marketers in India for many years. It is mainly because of the mass reach they offer and the tried and tested effectiveness.

eMarketer’s recently forecasted that estimated TV ad spending will account for 39.3% of total media ad outlays this year, with newspapers making up 33.9%.

To add on to that, by 2018, TV ad revenue will exceed print's, according to a KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) research.

It further reported that print advertising generated INR201.3 billion ($3.0 billion) in revenues in 2016, newspapers generated INR289.9 billion ($4.3 billion) in overall revenues, while TV was responsible for INR201.2 billion ($3.0 billion) in 2016.

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To find out how newspapers and TV drive revenue today in India, and why they still lead investment from brands, The Drum spoke with marketing experts from across the industry.

Joy Chakraborthy, president of revenue at TV18 and CEO of Forbes India, commented on the trend: “For both TV and print, basic revenue is through display sales, innovation/high impact position & non-free commercial time and branded content. There is also a revenue in TV through the syndication model. In addition, there is very stable subscription revenue in TV, as well as in print, which is negligible in digital."

Even organisations like Amazon and Flipkart , although fully digital businesses, still use traditional media to get their point across.

According to PwC report, titled ‘India- strong growth in digital segments while traditional media remain resilient’, circulation of newspapers in India has boomed from an average daily unit circulation total of 109.9mn copies in 2009, to 130.6mn in 2013, and is forecasted to keep rising to 161.6mn copies in 2018.

The report further predicted the rise of CAGR of 7.5% over the five years to 2018, reaching US$5.3bn of spending on newspapers – for both circulation and advertising. As a result, India’s share of the global newspaper market will increase from 2.4% in 2013 to 3.4% in 2018.

The Drum spoke with Benedict Hayes, Sociomantic managing director for South East Asia and India, who believes that out of home, print and press are still the largest mediums in terms of ad spend in India, but they are not the main drivers of revenue .

He added that digital is there to "compliment" both the tv and newspaper revenue. He said, “Digital is very much a viable option to deliver revenue to a business, its ability to reach and drive frequency of media exposure, is very much on par with the other advertising channels, and to be frank, will surpass the other mediums in no time at all, as it has done in major western markets.”

According to Chakraborthy, while TV and print still drove revenue, thinking about how platforms work together the most effective strategy. He said, "Yes, today integrated media platforms solutions do help in psychographic targeting as all media platforms co-exist. Thus keeping each medium’s nature in view and marrying a brand’s communication objective accordingly, is how media plans leverage the best from each media platform. “

He also emphasized on how broadly print and TV still remain favourites for product launches, while for brand building TV is the first choice, backed by digital, print and out of home.

While the consumption of digital media may be on the rise for Indian people, and a more integrated approach to channel planning is being adopted be brands, traditional media still stands strong in India, and may do for some time.