If you thought that only the real estate values are witnessing a dip, think twice. Even the advertising industry is also feeling the realty heat.

According to industry sources, it is estimated that all major developers such as DLF, Omaxe, Ansals and Parsvnath have decided to cut down on their advertising budgets by around 5 percent. The advertising industry in India is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore.

While analysts attribute this trend to dampening spirits of potential buyers, real estate companies prefer to call this a reality check on their advertising budgets. A report from Adex India, a division of TAM Media Research, shows that the share of real estate advertisements in print media saw a drop of 2 percent during 2007 compared to 2006. According to Adex, the share of real estate advertisement in overall print and TV advertising last year was 4 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

According to S K Sayal CEO, Alpha G Corp: “Infrastructure and real estate companies have primarily been responsible for the advertising industry sustaining its double-digit growth rate. However, in general, companies and brands have been increasing their expenditure on advertising. But a recent dip in the realty sector has made things worse for the advertising industry. Many real estate companies, this fiscal, have cut down on their advertising budgets.”

The Adex report indicates that the top 10 advertisers shared an aggregate of 16 percent of overall ad volumes of real estate advertising in print during 2007. The list include names such as DLF Group, Parsvnath, Sahara, HDIL and Omaxe group. However, the real estate had maximum share in South India publications followed by North and West publications with 32% and 26% share, respectively, during 2007.

“This is because all real estate companies want a national footprint. Also, these companies are now turning professional. They’re setting standards when it comes to managing their A2S (advertising to sales) ratio,” says Jagdeep Kapur, CMD, Samsika Marketing Consultants.