Comments
After two disappointing years, brought on by demonetisation and GST rollout, growth in advertising expenditure is expected to climb to 12.03 per cent in 2018, according to the Pitch Madison Ad Outlook 2018 report.
Growth in 2017 was a mere 7.4 per cent, compared to a projected growth rate of 13.5 per cent, with traditional media growing just 4 per cent.
Announcing the Adex (advertising expenditure) forecast for 2018 at an event here, Sam Balsara, founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World, said it is expected to reach ₹59,530 crore this year, from the ₹53,138 crore clocked in 2017.
Print medium continues to be the second highest contributor to Adex after TV, with a share of 35 per cent.
Though print Adex grew only 2.7 per cent in 2017, the lowest in nine years, it will grow at 5 per cent in 2018, coming close to ₹20,000 crore, with “regional publications leading growth”.
Balsara said print Adex will grow at 5 per cent versus total Adex, growing at 12.04 per cent in 2018.
“While this is the lowest growth among other media — with digital at 25 per cent, cinema at 14 per cent, television at 13 per cent, radio and outdoor at 10 per cent each — the growth forecast of 5 per cent for print Adex must be viewed in the context of global readership trends. Print Adex is declining in almost all countries. India is possibly the only major country where it is growing,” he told BusinessLine .
Commenting on the just-released Indian Readership Survey (IRS) figures, Balsara said print readership is “still strong and growing in India.
“However, the earlier habit of reading a newspaper every day without fail seems to be fading, and while people still read newspapers in very large numbers, they seem to read them three-four times a week,” he observed. “That is why IRS reports no increase in average issue readership but a 40 per cent increase in total readership.”
Recovery mode
The prognosis for 2018 is clearly upbeat, with Adex growth pegged at 12.03 per cent. Though the domestic media and advertising industry had to face the twin burdens of demonetisation and GST rollout, twhich severely stunted Adex growth in 2017, the economy is expected to recover and the market to swell, adding ₹6,392 crore to Adex to reach ₹59,530 crore this year.
Some signs are clearly positive, like the return of consumer spending, as well as the accrual of some benefits of GST. The eight Assembly elections scheduled during the year, preceded by State government publicity drives, as well as increased publicity by the Centre ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, are seen as positives for ad spends.
Moreover, as many as 16 new launches by automobile companies are expected in 2018, indicating huge spends by auto majors, as well as sporting activity from both cricketing and non-cricketing leagues and the FIFA World Cup. That, coupled with a strong come-back by FMCG companies on the back of increased rural demand and launch of new ayurvedic lines, are positive indicators.
Digital strides
In 2017, digital Adex grew 27 per cent to reach ₹9,303 crore. It is projected to grow 25 per cent to to reach ₹11,629 crore in 2018. Over the last five years, digital has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 32 per cent.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.