MAM
TV ads increase with approaching festival season in India, cliche but true
BENGALURU: Navratras followed by Diwali is the biggest festival season for India. This period is considered auspicious for purchase of apparel, consumer durables, automobiles and of course – the Indian women’s favourite – jewellery, which was earlier led by gold and silver and now diamonds and platinum. This is also a favourite time for marketers, for media. Often, a major portion of annual sales targets for brands are achieved during this short period. A big bulk of annual advertisement and marketing budgets are splurged during this season. Discounts and offers are touted by advertisers to entice buyers. Television is the major medium used by most advertisers to convey brand messages, and viewers are bombarded with ads selling various products and services around and during the festival season. All this is cliché and known by anybody and everybody that is connected with marketing. This has been the case this year also, as the number of ads released by the top 10 advertisers has only increased.
Now for some statistics for 2017 until week 37 of 2017 with some caveat – the list is based only on the information of the top 10 advertisers as provided by Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) in its weekly lists and hence the actual percentages could be different; Advertisers and ranks could vary from week to week; and HUL ad data in this paper doesn’t include ads of some of its subsidiary/associate companies such as Ponds India, etc. Often some of these companies have also found a place in BARC’s weekly top 10advertisers list in 2017. Even without these numbers, HUL has been the biggest advertiser on television this year until the writing of this paper, which includes data for week 37 of 2017 (Saturday, 9 September 2017 to Friday, 15 September 2017).
A total of 28 advertisers have found themselves in the weekly top 10 advertisers lists between weeks 1 and 37 of 2017. They are: Hindustan Lever Ltd; Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd; Cadburys India Ltd; Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd; Patanjali Ayurved Ltd; Procter & Gamble; ITC Ltd; Colgate Palmolive India Ltd; Super Cassettes Industries; Smithkline Beecham; Amazon Online India Pvt Ltd; Coca Cola India Ltd; Ponds India; Godrej Consumer Products Ltd,; Vini Product; Marico Ltd; Pepsi Co; Lalitha Jewellery; Johnson & Johnson Ltd; Godrej Sara Lee Ltd; Bharatiya Janata Party; Dabur India Ltd; Emami Limited; TVS Motor Company; Bharti Airtel Ltd; Jyothy Laboratories Ltd; Procter & Gamble Home Products
In 2017, the first few weeks witnessed the lowest combined total of television advertisement insertions of the top 10 advertisers. According to BARC, week 5 of 2015 (Saturday, 28 January 2017 to Friday, 3 February 2017) saw a total of 279,869 television insertions by the top10 advertisers, the lowest total in 2017 till week 37. The largest number of television advertisements is from the FMCG genre.
Of the total number of television ads by the top 10 advertisers in week 5, 192,939 ads or 68.94 percent were by FMCG advertisers. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), an Indian FMCG company, is the biggest television advertiser in India. In week 5 of 2017, 95,638 insertions (34.17 percent of the total television ads by the top 10 advertisers) were by HUL. So far in 2017, the lowest number of ads by HUL at 87,458, or 28.42 percent of the total television ads by the top 10 advertisers was in week 10 (Saturday, 4 March 2017 to Friday, 10 March 2017). In that week, the top 10 advertisers had released 307,710 television advertisements, while the total number of television advertisements by the FMCG players in the top 10 advertisers list was 208,769 or 67.85 percent of the combined total of top 10 advertisers.
HUL released a massive 180,246 television advertisements, or 62.40 percent of the total television ads released by the top 10 advertisers, in week 34 (Saturday, 19 August 2017 to Friday, 25 August 2017). During that week, the FMCG advertisers in the top 10 advertisers list released 288,872 television ads or 73.68 percent of the combined total of television ads released by the top 10 advertisers.
The highest total number of television ads by the top 10 advertisers was in week 28 of 2017 at 427,057. In that week, FMCG brands among the top 10 advertisers list released 290,620 television ads (68.05 percent of total ads by top 10 advertisers) and HUL released 142,260 television ads (48.95 percent of total ads by top 10 advertisers).
The total number of television insertions until week 37 of 2017 by the advertisers in the top 10 list was 12,897,001, of which 9,359,818 or 72.57 percent of the combined ads was by FMCG players in the top 10 advertisers’ lists. HUL has released 4,717,607 (36.58 percent)
Please refer to the figure below. It is quite obvious that advertisements by the top 10 advertisers have increased over the past few weeks. The tempo is likely the tempo will only increase.
Brands
Wipro hires 7,500 freshers, withholds FY27 hiring outlook
Profit rises to Rs 3,522 crore, Rs 15,000 crore buyback announced.
MUMBAI- Hiring may be on, but visibility is off, Wipro is adding talent even as it pauses the crystal ball. The company hired 7,500 freshers in FY26 but stopped short of offering any hiring outlook for FY27, underscoring the uncertainty gripping the IT services sector as it pivots towards an AI-led operating model.
The disclosure came alongside its fourth-quarter earnings, where management flagged volatile demand conditions and refrained from committing to future workforce expansion. Chief human resources officer Saurabh Govil noted that over 3,000 of the total hires were onboarded in the March quarter alone, signalling continued intake despite a lack of clarity on deployment pipelines.
This divergence active hiring without forward guidance reflects a broader industry pattern where talent acquisition continues even as deal conversions remain uneven and client spending cycles stretch. Wipro expects its IT services revenue for the June quarter to range between a decline of 2 per cent and flat growth sequentially in constant currency terms, reinforcing near-term caution.
Chief executive officer Srini Pallia pointed to artificial intelligence as both a disruptor and an opportunity. He said evolving client priorities are pushing the company towards outcome-driven engagements, with Wipro increasingly focusing on a services-as-software model through its AI Native Business and Platforms unit. The shift marks a structural change from traditional headcount-led growth to AI-enabled delivery frameworks.
The company has already committed over $1 billion to its AI ecosystem, with investors closely watching how these investments translate into revenue. For now, the numbers present a mixed picture. Net profit rose sequentially to Rs 3,522 crore, while revenue grew 3 per cent to Rs 24,236 crore. However, core IT services performance remained under pressure, with full-year revenue declining 0.3 per cent in dollar terms and 1.6 per cent in constant currency.
Large deal bookings offered a counterpoint, rising 45.4 per cent year-on-year to $7.8 billion, highlighting a widening gap between deal wins and actual revenue realisation. On a quarterly basis, IT services revenue slipped 1.2 per cent sequentially, signalling continued softness in execution.
Margins, however, told a more optimistic story. Operating margins expanded to 17.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 14.8 per cent in the previous quarter, reflecting improved cost discipline. That said, the company cautioned that upcoming wage hikes and the ramp-up of large deals could exert pressure going forward.
Attrition stood at 13.8 per cent in the March quarter, indicating stabilisation after periods of elevated churn. Alongside its earnings, Wipro also announced a Rs 15,000 crore share buyback, reinforcing its focus on shareholder returns, with a payout ratio of 88 per cent over the past three years.
Taken together, the numbers capture a company in transition investing in AI, maintaining hiring momentum, but navigating a demand environment where growth is uneven and visibility remains limited.
