Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M.K. Stalin was sworn in as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on May 7th, thus becoming the third DMK leader to assume Chief Minister’s office after C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi.
The two Dravidian parties fought a fierce battle with few new political parties, namely Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, actor Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM), Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi joining them.
The DMK has been voted back to power after a gap of 10 years in Tamil Nadu.
As per TAM AdEx- a division of TAM Media report, Across TV, Radio and Print mediums, regional political parties DMK and AIADMK led together with more than 60% share of Political Ad insertions in 2021 assembly polls.
When Television was the most preferred medium with 70% of the ad insertion share during the year 2021, the Print Medium observed 26 percent ad volume growth during Tamil Nadu state’s assembly election during the same period as compared to the 2016 assembly elections.
The Radio medium received 28 percent ad shares during the 2021 TN assembly polls.
Speaking on the trends in the report, Ramesh Narayan, Mancom Member Indian Chapter International Advertising Association ( IAA), said, “Firstly while there is a need for more research and analysis into this phenomenon, a casual observation would be that the fight was considerably more fierce with parties staking their all in a do or die battle. I would love to believe that in five years, political parties have increasingly realised the importance of mass media.”
The Top 5 political parties had an 86% share of Political Ad Insertions during Y2021.
According to B Srinivasan, MD, Vikatan Group, The 2021 elections were unique in many aspects. For the very first time since 1972 was an election being fought without the troika of Dravidian politics, MGR, Karunanithi, and Jayalalitha. The first time there was a 5 way race with Seeman’s NTK, Kamal Hassan’s MNM, and Dinakaran’s AMMK were in the fray for all 234 seats each, alongside the DMK-Cong+ and the AIADMK-BJP+.
“For the ruling AIADMK, though initially smug and confident, got right into the action post opinion polls and swooped in all plum positions in Newspapers, Magazines, TV, and Digital. The DMK, calculating from the beginning on the anti-incumbency and the anti-Modi vote, ensured they did not slip up in advertising either,” he added.
On TV medium, DMK was on top with a 35% share of Ad Insertions in the Tamil Nadu assembly election during Y2021, whereas in Y 2016, it was in 2nd position with 22% shares. In Print, regional party AIADMK’s ad Insertion shares increased by 15% during the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly election over 2016. AIADMK & DMK were Top 2 parties on Radio medium in 2021.
“Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) and Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) spent well towards the end, and almost all parties invested heavily on digital – Trollvertising & IT cells’ played a significant role this election in driving conversation & engagements as well as through bulk media buys with Google and Facebook to capture voter’s mind space. It was clear that all major parties/ alliances did not want to take younger audiences for granted – especially the almost 1 million new voters who had joined the electorate this year,” said Srinivasan.
As per the report, National Parties BJP and Congress were in 4th and 11th positions respectively during the Tamil Nadu state assembly election in Y2021. The Advertising share of the National Party BJP decreased by 12% during 2021 over 2016.
“It is certain that this points a clear direction to the future of political spending. All parties worth their salt have a short window of communicating their message effectively, and they will have to invest heavily on Adex to continue to make an impression in the mind space of their electorate,” Srinivasan added.
“And tongue firmly in cheek, let me add that in both elections, the party that advertised more won. Yes, it pays to advertise,” concluded Ramesh Narayan.
