MUMBAI: When it comes to the television viewer, "the railway budget is for the masses and the Union budget for the classes."

That seems to be the way advertisers have approached spends on television as regards the Union and railway budgets, data thrown up by AdEX India, a division of TAM Media Research on indicates. The ratings agency has just released its findings of a comparative analysis of the top advertisers based on duration and spends for the railway and Union budgets in the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 on Indian news channels namely Aaj Tak, DD News, Star News, Zee News, Sahara MP, Sahara UP, Sahara Mumbai, Sahara Samay, CNN, BBC, CNBC, Headlines Today, NDTV India and NDTV 24x7.

Broadly speaking, top end advertisers dominated the Union budget coverage while FMCG companies and the like were heavily onto the railway budget.

Analysis on the day the Railway Budget was presented reveals that while General Electric was the top advertiser in terms of the duration in 2002, while in 2003 Subhash Chandra's Zee Telefilms Network usurped the number one position which pushed General Electric to the second spot. However in 2004, is was FMCG giant Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) that reigned supreme on the highest advertising duration front while Zee Network and General Electric were nowhere in the Top 10 slot. Life Insurance Corporation of India was the second on the list this year during the airing of the Railway budget on television.

Railway Budget day in 2002	Railway Budget day in 2003	Railway Budget day in 2004

Overall the total number of ads that were aired in 2002 during the Railway budget was 80502 with a total duration of 48760 seconds. In 2003 the total number of ads increased to 91673 with a total duration of 50135 seconds. On the other hand, this year the total number of ads was 124210 with the total duration being 74845. Also with regards to the duration of advertising that took place, one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that there are more news channels in India today than there were in 2002 so with more space available to the advertiser, obviously there will be more advertising.

Now coming to the advertising spends now during the Railway Budget in 2002 and 2003 (the figures for advertising spends in 2004 will be available with Tam at a later stage). In 2002, Nirma Chemicals Ltd was the top spender on television followed by Raymond Ltd. While in 2003 Zee Television Network was numero uno on spends. Interestingly HLL was no where in the picture in the last two years and in all probability may be the top spender this year.

Railway Budget day in 2002	Railway Budget day in 2003

Moving on to the top categories of products advertised on the basis of duration during the Railway Budget presentation on news channels during the last three years. The Insurance sector which was the fifth largest sector to advertise in 2002 with respect to the total duration of ads steadily crept up to the second spot in 2003 and to the first spot in 2004. Also interesting is the fact that the sector that has managed consistently remain among the top five in terms of duration of ads for the last three years has been that of the Pan Masala, Zarda and gutkha. From being second on the list in 2002, this sector slipped to the third slot in 2003 and then to the fourth in 2004. This dip can be attributed to the fact that tobacco advertising was banned in India with effect from 1 May 2004, so major cigarette companies were not in the race this year.

The hosiery category which was at the bottom of the Top 10 list among categories that advertised in 2002 based on the duration of ads, was up in the sixth slot in 2003 and then zoomed up to the second slot this year.

Railway Budget day in 2002	Railway Budget day in 2003	Railway Budget day in 2004

Among the categories which were the top spenders in 2002 and 2003 when the Railway budget was aired on news channels, suitings was on top of the charts in 2002 while the insurance sector which was in the eight position in 2002 zipped up to the first in 2003. The suitings sector took a back seat last year and was the ninth largest spender ninth.

Railway Budget day in 2002	Railway Budget day in 2003

Now coming to the comparative analysis of the Top 10 advertisers based on duration on the day of the Union Budget in the last three years aired on the earlier mentioned news channels.

In terms of the Top notch advertisers based on duration in the year 2002, Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd was top of the charts followed by Raymond Ltd. While on the other hand in 2003 Hindustan Motors Ltd stole the show. Interesting is the fact that while HLL was the top advertiser in terms of duration on the day of the Railway budget this year, on the day of the Union budget this year was Malaysia Tourism. HLL was not even spotted among the Top 10 advertisers in terms of duration this year. Since the target audience on the days of the Union and the Railway budget are vastly different, the advertiser base is also different. So while on the day of the Railway budget FMCGs, hosiery, pan masalas, footwear, washing powder et al were the top categories to advertise, on the day of the Union budget travel and tourism sector, insurance and cellular phone categories were the top notch advertisers.

Union budget day in 2002	Union budget day in 2003	Union budget day in 2004

In terms of the top advertiser based on spends during the day of the Union budget, in the year 2002 the Aditya Birla Group was the top advertiser and Hindustan Motors stole the show in 2003. Also last year, Zee Television Network was the third largest spender.

Union budget day in 2002	Union budget day in 2003

Coming to the top categories based on duration that advertised on the day of the Union budget in 2002 and 2003 was dominated by the Cars and Jeeps sector, this year the travel and tourism sector ruled the roost while the Insurance sector followed close behind and was on the second spot this year.

Union budget day in 2002	Union budget day in 2003	Union budget day in 2004

Keeping in mind that the cars and jeep sector was the top advertiser in terms of duration in the years 2002 and 2003, it comes as no surprise that in terms of the spends in these years this sector was on top. The insurance sector in both the years dominated the second spot.

Union budget day in 2002	Union budget day in 2003