Growth in global ad spend in 2018 was estimated at a low 4.3 per cent and is forecast to slip to 3.6 per cent in 2019. In comparison, Indian ad spend has ploughed ahead at an estimated 15 per cent growth in 2018, and is forecast to slip a notch to 14 per cent this year.

Despite the predicted global slowdown in growth, Indian advertising has triumphed and been labelled as the fastest growing ad market in the world, according to GroupM, the media investment group of WPP, which put forth their advertising expenditure (Adex) forecast.

Fastest growing market

Noting that India tops the list as the fastest growing major ad market in the world, GroupM has noted that India’s advertising investment is set to reach an estimated ₹80,678 crore this year. This represents strong estimated growth for the calendar year 2019.

India is set to be the third highest contributor to the incremental ad spends, only behind China and the US, and the tenth fastest growing country with respect to ad spends across the globe.

Speaking about the ‘This Year, Next Year 2019’ (TYNY) report, Sam Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), GroupM South Asia, said, “We expect sustained and stable media investment growth across categories in India.”

Digital advertising

The report notes that this year 37 per cent of incremental ad spends will go towards digital advertising including mobile. Given the scale at which India is witnessing digital transformation, GroupM estimates digital Adex to continue to grow by 30 per cent in 2019 to ₹16,038 crore.

Prasanth Kumar, Chief Operating Officer (COO), GroupM South Asia, said: “Indian ad spends CAGR between 2014-2018 is at 13 per cent. India is unique among key markets and will witness growth in all media segments, not just digital. Offline media is poised to continue to grow and will contribute to being around 80 per cent of ad spends in 2019.”

Offline media refers to newspaper advertisements, banners, billboards and TV ads. Television growth rate is estimated at 15 per cent. Print is estimated to grow by 2.2 per cent, with share of print to all media expected to be at 23 per cent. While it is expected for both English and regional languages to grow, regional is expected to see slightly higher growth.

Local language will continue to thrive on both TV and print, the report adds.

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