The number of advertisements by personal healthcare and insurance companies has seen a surge in the last few weeks on the backdrop of pandemic. As people are getting more cautions and looking at preventive measures, brands in these spaces feel it is a good time to advertise anything and everything connected to well-being.

According to TAM Media, an audience measurement analysis firm, from April 1 to August 14, 2020, personal healthcare sector segment advertisement volume grew by five per cent. Out of the total advertising during April-July, 70 per cent of the advertisement volumes were during June-July alone.

The data recorded from week 2-4 (January 11-31 (Pre-Covid period)) shows insurance companies ad volumes in seconds (average) was 2,24,535 seconds, which dropped to 60,260 seconds during week 11-22 (March 14 -June 5 (Covid period)), but increased to 1,99,973 seconds in week 28-31 (July 11 – August 7).

The personal care/personal hygiene sector grew by 22 per cent in the last 4 weeks as compared to pre-Covid period. The sector saw a growth of 62% in the last 4 weeks as compared to Covid period. The personal healthcare sector grew by 26% in the last 4 weeks as compared to pre-Covid period. The sector grew by a mammoth 159% in the last 4 weeks as compared to Covid period, shows BARC data.

Vinita Shah, senior vice president – Corp. comm & Analytics, TAM Media Research said, ”Ad volumes on television have started stabilising from the Month of June. At a FCT (free commercial time) level only there is a sign of revival for the medium from the impact of Covid-19. Personal healthcare sector specifically for Covid categories like immunity building products (chywanprash, vitamins supplement, etc), antiseptic liquids also got a boost as a prevention against the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Even in the case of General Health Insurance, the ad volumes of the category have spiked in June-July 2020 compared to April 2020. Whereas, the advertisements under category Hospital/Clinics have remained more or less the same during each month between April 2020 to July 2020.

S L Narayanan, Group CFO, Sun TV Network Limited said that there has been a significant contribution from the FMCG for the revenue as of now.

“And there are some new segments, which have opened up, which is very surprising. Like, for example, pharma, which never used to do any major advertising, has grown up by 150%, 200%. There are a lot of pharma companies advertising detergents and all that stuff, testing and all that. Then health insurance companies, sanitizers. So there are a lot of new segments opening up,” he said during investors call.

Brand expert and Founder of Mogae Group Sandeep Goyal said that health is a big concern right now. “When fear is the key, there is a predisposition to minimise risk. So the pandemic is a good time to advertise anything and everything connected to well-being. The fear of the infection, fear of its consequences, fear of its cost is driving pharma and insurance advertising,” said Goyal.