The percentage of advertising share in TV channels increased by 43 percent between January and June this year as compared to the same time period last year. TV ad volumes had seen a sharp drop of 31 percent during March to May 2020 over the same period in 2019.

This is part of the findings of the latest TAM AdEx half-yearly advertising report on the television medium, Exchange4media reported.

AdEx India is a division of TAM Media Research, a "central media intelligence unit" of data on audience behaviour and brand communication. In a statement, TAM AdEx said the "festive season and positive consumer sentiment" led to a "recovery in television advertising volumes" starting October 2020.

The report scrutinised the top programme genres preferred by advertisers. According to Livemint, feature films came in at number one, followed by news bulletins and film songs. These three genres covered 57 percent of the TV ad volume in January-June 2021. The food and beverages sector held 21 percent of ads, followed by personal care/hygiene at 20 percent.

In the same time period, regional channels had 56 percent of ad volumes and national channels 44 percent. March this year and last year recorded the highest share of TV ad volumes. In 2020, the TV ad share surged by 41 percent in June over May. In June 2021, ad share dropped by eight percent in June over May.

The report added that despite a sharp increase in TV ad share in the first half of 2021, the number of advertisers and brands remained lower as compared to the first half of 2019. Last year, there were over 8,400 advertisers which dropped to 5,400 in the first half of 2021.