New Delhi: Pick up any newspaper, switch on TV channels or tune into FM channels, you will be bombarded with advertisements exhorting you to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in assembly elections 2017. The saffron party has outperformed all other political parties in terms of spending on advertisements on TV, radio and print in three poll-bound states – Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Quoting data from AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, The Economic Times reports that the BJP’s share in the overall ad insertions across the three mediums was as high as 59% in the three states between November last year till February 4, 2017.
“This is not taking into account the campaigning in Punjab done together by the ruling BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal coalition, which had an 11% share in total ad volume,” says the report.
The saffron party has reportedly spent more than Rs 150 crore on advertising during state elections.
Interestingly, the next three parties — Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress — put together did not spend half of BJP’s advertising share.
SP’s share was at 13%, BSP’s at 12%, and Congress’ entire political campaign saw ad insertions of close to 4%.
A total of 27,133 ads were aired on TV channels, while 11,722 ad spots were played on radio and 2,797 ads inserted in the print media in the month of January this year.
Before that, November saw some action with 5,754 ads insertion across TV channels, 3,212 across radio and 1,092 across print. In December, political advertising also dipped after demonetisation.
When it comes to individual states, BJP’s advertising share in Uttar Pradesh was at 69%, followed by SP’s 17%, BSP’s 12% while Lokdal and Congress at 1% each.
In Punjab, BJP-SAD combined had a share of 93% in the political advertising, followed by the BJP (individual) with 4%, the Congress with 2% and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with 1%.
BJP’s share of ads in Goa was at 39%, followed by Congress’ 37%. Goa is the only state where Congress invested significantly to push its agenda. Local parties Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (13%) and Goa Forward Party (4%) also inserted ads in print media in the state.
The five states are going to elect new assemblies between February and March. While Goa, Punjab and Uttarakhand have already voted, people in Uttar Pradesh have a seven-phase voting process and Manipur will vote in two phases in March.
The SP is the incumbent party in UP, while BJP is the ruling party in Goa. In Punjab, SAD-BJP alliance runs the government.