MAM
Agri sector spends 66 per cent on print ads in 2024, digital sees 18 per cent growth: Excellent Publicity report
MUMBAI : The humble print ad is still king of the farm, it seems, as a new report from Excellent Publicity, India’s ad-tech wizards, reveals that the agriculture and farming sector splurged a whopping 66 per cent of its total ad spend on print in 2024. That’s a bumper crop of broadsheets and tabloids reaching the heart of rural India.
The report, drawing insights from thousands of campaigns and TAM Media Research data, painted a vivid picture of the agri-sector’s media consumption habits. While print remains the sturdy backbone of advertising efforts, digital is certainly planting its seeds, showing an 18 per cent growth in 2024 over 2022. It appears even farmers are swiping right on new tech.
North Zone proved to be the print-loving powerhouse, accounting for 35.7 per cent of total print ad spends, with the South close behind at 30.8 per cent. Regional stalwarts like Dainik Bhaskar and Eenadu continued to harvest the lion’s share of regional ad spaces, proving that local news still cuts the mustard.
Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) cemented its position as the top dog in print, commanding a massive 65.6 per cent share. Clearly, they’re not just fertilising crops, but ad pages too. And for those wondering, 99.4 per cent of these ads were in glorious technicolour – because even a tractor looks better in high definition – with nearly three-quarters gracing those coveted front-page spots.
Television, however, saw a bit of a dry spell, with ad spends declining by 53 per cent in 2024 compared to 2022. Yet, insecticide brands sprayed their way to the top, seizing a 16.2 per cent share. News channels, ever the purveyors of prime-time drama, scooped up 80.4 per cent of TV ad spends. And who was the most familiar face gracing these agricultural advisories? None other than ajay devgan, whose celebrity endorsements tilled nearly 12 per cent of total TV ad durations.
Excellent Publicity co-founder & director Vaishal Dalal commented, “The agriculture and farming sector continues to show a strong preference for traditional mediums, particularly print, which offers unparalleled reach in rural and semi-urban India. However, we are seeing growing digital adoption, especially for precision targeting and building direct engagement with the new-age farming community. The integration of digital with traditional advertising will likely shape the sector’s future media strategies.”
Radio, that old faithful, saw a 38 per cent surge in ad spends in 2023 over 2022. Tirth Agro Technology, clearly with an ear to the ground, dominated radio waves, capturing 30 per cent of total radio ad spends in 2024. The West Zone was the loudest on radio, contributing 59.1 per cent, with My FM becoming the most preferred network. It seems radio still holds its own, proving that some classics never go out of style.
Digital, the youthful disruptor, witnessed an 18 per cent growth in 2024 over 2022, with Jain Irrigation System leading the charge. Facebook.com, perhaps surprisingly, reaped 60.6 per cent of total digital ad spends, followed by X.com at 28 per cent. Display ads, those familiar banners and pop-ups, were the preferred format, making up 95.4 per cent of total digital ad volumes. Video, while sprouting interest, still has some growing to do. Over 190 advertisers cultivated exclusive digital campaigns in 2024, showing a clear shift towards digital-first strategies.
The report concluded that advertising activity generally followed the agricultural calendar, peeking from May to November on TV, October to December in Print, January to March on Radio, and June to August on Digital. It seems advertisers know exactly when to sow their seeds to reap the best results.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
