Tanushree Basuroy
Research expert covering India
Political advertising in India - statistics & facts
Come election time, Indian streets are filled with sizable banners of beaming politicians promising a shining future for the nation, political jingles blaring through radios and megaphones, and political ads splashed across social media platforms and television screens. 2024 marks an important year for democracy worldwide with over 60 nations, including India, electing new governments. Political advertising in one of the world’s largest democracies is truly inescapable, having evolved from politicians visiting voters’ homes to sprawling IT cells leveraging technology to amplify a political party’s message.
However, political ad campaigns are not just limited to election season. Advertising within India’s vibrant political scene translates to a constant tussle for the limelight that lately has boiled down to the dichotomy between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress party (INC). Parties on both the national and state levels dedicate significant portions of their finances to publicity and advertising.
Over the course of the state legislative assembly elections contested in 2023, political campaigns entered a new era, one that involved working closely with influencers. Influencer marketing has carved its niche in the Indian advertising and marketing sector. Lately, prominent politicians have been engaging influencers to use their platform to promote their respective schemes; one such being Prime Minister Modi promoting the “Swachchta Hi Seva” campaign in a video featuring fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuria.
Meanwhile, election time also translated to a boost in revenue for both print and radio with considerable increases in ad volumes by political advertisers. Television remained the popular choice for traditional advertising, and the INC contributed the highest ad volumes and revenue to the medium. However, the BJP’s ever-increasing online ad spend, coupled with Indians spending the most time on social media appear to be giving it the upper hand in the upcoming general election, with a potential reach of over 600 million users.
Social media vs T.V. advertising: a face-off between BJP and INC
As digital media takes center stage in the advertising sector, social media has become one of the leading formats for online advertising. Social media advertising allowed for parties to widen their reach while targeting the youth, which included several first-time voters. Platforms such as Meta witnessed an influx of political ads and posts in recent years, with political parties battling it out for voters’ attention. Social media platforms also braced themselves for a barrage of AI-generated political ads in 2024.Over the course of the state legislative assembly elections contested in 2023, political campaigns entered a new era, one that involved working closely with influencers. Influencer marketing has carved its niche in the Indian advertising and marketing sector. Lately, prominent politicians have been engaging influencers to use their platform to promote their respective schemes; one such being Prime Minister Modi promoting the “Swachchta Hi Seva” campaign in a video featuring fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuria.
Meanwhile, election time also translated to a boost in revenue for both print and radio with considerable increases in ad volumes by political advertisers. Television remained the popular choice for traditional advertising, and the INC contributed the highest ad volumes and revenue to the medium. However, the BJP’s ever-increasing online ad spend, coupled with Indians spending the most time on social media appear to be giving it the upper hand in the upcoming general election, with a potential reach of over 600 million users.
Why does media ownership in India matter?
Media plurality is essential to any democracy. India’s diverse media landscape, while seeming heterogenous, is threatened by rampant cross-media ownership wherein a corporate entity controls multiple media channels, prominent examples being Reliance Industries and Zee Entertainment. Media concentration persists within all segments of India’s vast market, with partisanship within news coverage being common and media moguls often working closely with politicians. Interestingly, India is among the few democracies to have a state-owned radio station with the sole right to broadcast the news.
