The World cup underlines the growing share of the mobile and telecom brands in the ad pie on the TV channels. The mobile services and handsets brands contributed the maximum number of ad space, after soft drinks, during the world cup telecast. exchange4media undertakes an analysis of the performance of different channels, brands and product categories during the world cup. The analysis is based on the data provided by Time Monitoring Service.

As expected Set Max garnered the lion's share of advertising during the world cup. With a share of 65.81%, Set Max managed to rope in advertisers for 476586 seconds. An additional 77662 seconds were managed by Sony also. DD Network and DD Metro combined together to manage advertisers for 169969 seconds. Interestingly, DD Network attracted 11555 seconds of ads during the finals whereas Set Max managed only 4560 seconds of ads. The same trend was reflected during the semi final matches too.

In all 257 brands advertised during the tournament on 4 channels which telecasted the matches. Pepsi emerged as the leader in terms of ad space taken on these channels. The brand took 65025 seconds with a share of 8.98% of the total ad space taken by different brands. Reliance Infocomm came out second with 7.25% share of the voice taking 52505 seconds. Pepsi's archrival Coca Cola came a distant third with a share of just 3.45% taking up just 25016 seconds of ad space. Number of brands preferred to stick to Set Max and Sony only and refrained from taking space in DD Channels. Prominent among them included Mountain Dew, Close Up Lemon Mint, Mak engine oil, Clinic All Clear, Nokia, ICICI Bank and Mastercard etc. On the other hand, Maruti (Alto & Zen), LG (except CDMA mobile phone), A-One Direct Cool Refrigerator), VIP Corporate, Close Up toothpaste and LML (Freedom) etc. opted for just DD channels only.

It must be noted that though Pepsi was the leading advertiser on both the networks but LG emerged a close second to it when it came to advertising on DD channels. LG commercials occupied the screens of DD Network and DD Metro for 15583 seconds. But LG's major competitor Samsung preferred to take Set Max and Sony. The brand took 37,058 seconds on these channels and DD channels didn't figure anywhere in its media plan. Remember, LG had the advantage of figuring quite high on Set Max and Sony thanks to its official sponsorship status.

When it came overall ad share, India's largest advertiser Hindustan Lever Ltd. took the top slot by taking TVCs for 111060 seconds for its different brands. Its overall share in percentage stood at 15.34%. Compared to the last world cup in 1999, HLL has taken 194.67% more airtime in this world cup. The top brand in advertising, Pepsi, took the second position in this category with 93079 seconds. Pepsi too upped its airtime by 46.81% this time. Number of companies this time have taken more space in significant proportions compared to last time. Bharat Petroleum - 905.93%, Asian Paints - 287.17% and Nestle 265.33% were the major advertisers which increased their airtime significantly. But Maruti and MRF preferred to take less space then last time. Maruti reduced by 36.64% and MRF by 40.65%. Even big advertisers like ITC, P&G, Dabur, Nirma, Philips and Bharti Cellular opted for a low share of voice.

This world cup clearly reflects the change in the profile of the major advertisers on TV. The mobile services and handsets emerged as the 2 new product categories driving the advertising on TV channels. In year 1999, these 2 categories were almost non-existent. Mobile services powered mainly by Hutch and Cellone contributed maximum ads after the traditional leaders soft drinks only. Soft drinks with major brands like Pepsi and Cocal Cola had the highest share of voice with 138940 seconds of airtime. The intense market competition forced motorbikes to take 80.06% more space this time then last world cup. The same hold true for the television market as well as major TV brands had to take 79% more space this time. Motorbikes and Televisions came third and fourth in terms of hierarchy ladder of the advertisers in terms of space taken. Interestingly, chocolate brands with 13130 seconds took 781.21% more space this time then last world cup! Who else went for more space this time? The data throws up some more surprises! Toothpastes, shampoos and paints categories were the pick of the lot. 371.35% more for paints, 329.31% more for toothpastes and 227.21% more for shampoos this time.