After witnessing a hit in distribution due to the pandemic, print industry seems to be slowly bouncing back as print advertising registered a 325% rise in average ad volume per day in June 2020 when compared to April 2020, according to the data released by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research.

As per the AdEx data, cars category emerged as the most advertised category with 8% share of ad space, meanwhile, SBS Biotech led the print advertising with 6% share in April 2020 – Jun 2020.

Top 10 categories accounted for 38% ad volume share in both Apr-Jun’20. Out of this, four categories were from the education sector and together accounted for 16% share. Interestingly, multiple courses claimed the second position in Apr-Jun’20, from thirteenth it occupied in Jan-Mar’20. Similarly, ecom-education moved up by 20 positions to perch on the ninth position in Apr-Jun’20 compared to Jan-Mar’20.

As for advertisers, despite the slowdown in the automobile industry, Maruti Suzuki India maintained its position as the second biggest spender in print with 3% share of ad space in Apr’20-Jun’20. Perched on the third position, Fiitjee witnessed 4.8x rise on print ads in Apr’20-Jun’20 as compared to Jan’20-Mar’20 where it stood at 98th rank. Top 10 advertisers accounted for 22% in Apr-Jun’20 compared to 16% in Jan-Mar’20. Out of this, three advertisers each from the auto and education sector together accounted for 6% and 5% share, respectively.

Fiitjee emerged as the most advertised brand in print with 2.2% share of ad space followed by Maruti Car Range with 2% share as well. Interestingly, Ghadi Detergent Cake/Powder moved up by 592 positions to claim the fifth spot in Apr-Jun’20 when compared to Jan-Mar’20. Similarly, Utkarsh Classes climbed up the ladder by 244 positions to emerge as the eighth most advertised brand in Apr-Jun’20.

Unsurprisingly, with covid scare at large, Household Cleaners emerged as the fastest growing category in Apr-Jun’20 recording over 9000x growth. Similarly, Household UPS and Inverter Batteries accounted for over 300x growth in Apr-Jun’20 as compared to Jan-Mar’20. Meanwhile, advertisements of Home Insecticides saw a 30x rise in Apr-Jun’20.

As for innovative ad layouts, 71% of advertisers preferred figured outline while 16% opted for teasers. Meanwhile, L spared layouts claimed 7% share of the ad space with masthead integration taking 5%. As per the data, 12 categories used the Innovative Ad Layouts in Print during Apr-Jun’20.

Brands from 220 Categories preferred using Sales Promotion theme for advertising. However, brands promotion claimed 71% share of the pie followed by Sales Promotion with 18% share of ad volumes. Out of this, among various Sales Promotions used in print, Discount Promotion grabbed almost 32% share followed by Multiple Promotion with 29% share. The top three Sales Promotions solely covered 75% of the ad space.