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industry is the largest growing sector in media at a rate of around 30%, rules
over all the other sectors like Film, Print and TV. All thrive on advertising
spends and their majority revenues are generated through the advertisements.

As demonetization
affected every sector, they cut their budgets as the consumers reduced their
purchasing power. With the reduced budgets, the advertising and marketing
companies suffered. However, due to its strong base, the industry suffered the
least among all the media and entertainment sector.

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industry is divided into traditional and modern or digital advertising.
Traditional being carried out in print and TV industry was affected the most,
whereas digital advertisements which are found on websites, social media or
even Youtube were just hit for a temporary basis.

The advertisement
industry is geographically categorized as national and regional advertisers.
During demonetization, Regional ones were affected the most due to a weaker
base as compared to the national ones. Regional advertisers, with a dependence
on regional and local advertisers had a far negative impact than the national
players. However, the comeback was quicker in case of national advertisers.

According to the FICCI KPGM report, advertisers faced an
estimated loss of around Rs 17 Billion, out of which FMCG companies contributed
the most.

Most of the
advertisement companies show a jump in ads by digital payment and financial
services companies, which made a lot of profit in that time. Prakhar, the financial
operations head of White Rivers Media said that, “Suddenly a lot of
advertisement companies started getting contracts by Paytm and Mobikwik. We
earned a lot through these advertisements for digital payment companies and
NBFCs.

Digital
advertisement consists of video, music, social media and website
advertisements. All were not much affected as the advertisement companies
market their clients based on contract offers, which are in some cases annual
or monthly.

Prakhar adds that, “We
are dependent on how much the client spends on ads. We were definitely affected,
but specifically digital advertisement was the least affected. Traditional
marketing was hit badly but till how long can a company or individual go
without marketing for his company?”

Apparently it was
reported that a lot of traditional advertisers shifted their marketing
operations to digital platform as the expenditure was less. Also, the shift of
the advertisers caused a stir in the traditional advertising, which despite the
largest share in advertising industry is going down gradually.

As, demonetization
came and went Film, TV, Print and Digital advertising companies saw a tough
phase with the whole economy slowing down. However, the subsequent months saw
them recovering. Some recovered at a faster pace, while some took a long time.