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CHENNAI, Dec. 2

WITH most two-wheeler companies posting healthy sales growth in the last quarter, it is inevitable that they have stepped up their advertising spend.

In fact, two-wheelers have emerged as the category with the biggest ad spends in press so far this year, according to TAM ADEX, a division of TAM Media Research, which monitors more than 700 brands in the media.

From January to October, two-wheelers went from No. 4 on the list of big spenders in print - behind corporate advertisers, cars/jeeps and computer education - to the top of the list. Meanwhile, previous big spenders like computer education and apparel have cut back on their ad spends; this trend is reflective of the state of the economy, said Mr Atul Phadnis, Director - S Group, TAM Media Research. "As the software sector moves into a slowdown, computer education as a category has moved down from the third largest category (press ads) last year to 15th place," he said.

At the same time, low interest rates and a sluggish stock market have turned consumers to real estate and property in large numbers, and this is reflected in higher ad spends in this category. From a rank of 165 in 1994, the category climbed to seventh position last year, and is in fourth position this year. Also, while real estate ads have traditionally been classifieds, there are more display ads now. "Not only have they increased ad spends, but they also have a different approach now because they want to make a bigger impact," Mr Phadnis said. Cell phone service providers have also emerged as big spenders recently, he added. The average monthly ad spend of two-wheelers is over Rs 20 crore this year, as compared to about Rs 2.5 crore in 1995. The average monthly ad spend of real estate/property is just under Rs 15 crore this year, as compared to less than Rs 1 crore in 1995. And cell phone service providers spent about Rs 11 crore every month this year, as compared to about Rs 2 crore in 1995.

Categories like mutual funds, refrigerators, computer education and apparel have all recorded steep declines in print ad spends, with the steepest decline in computer education; it is down to a monthly average of Rs 6 crore this year, from a high of more than Rs 20 crore per month in 2000. "We do not think computer education spend will go back up to earlier levels," Mr Phadnis said.

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