Ad spends to grow 10.5% in India in 2018: DAN

Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) released its biannual global forecasts, pointing to a more positive 2018 for Asia Pacific advertising expenditure than previously expected. As per report, ad-spend growth will rise from 4.0% in 2017 to hit 4.5% in 2018 - higher than the 4.2% forecast in January 2018 and taking total investment to $215.95 billion.

Figure 1: Growth in global ad spend 2017-19 (% y-o-y at current prices)

Figure 2: Growth in global ad spend by media, 2017-19 (% y-o-y at current prices)

The reports says the India advertising spend market is expected to grow in 2018 by 10.5% to reach Rs 624 billion. Though there had been a slow start in Q1-2018, the market had been picking up from March-April, fuelled by a stable recovery post demonetisation/GST/RERA, buoyed by the state elections in Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland and Karnataka.

Globally, OOH has benefited from significant technological innovation in recent years. Digital displays across all formats have transformed the medium. OOH is forecast to grow by 2.2% in 2018 and 2.1% in 2019 to hit $37.7 billion—a 6% share of total global spend.

Commenting on the latest forecasts, Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific, said, “The region as a whole displays a positive outlook with increasing growth rates. We are seeing upward revisions in most key markets, with India, the Philippines and Vietnam showing high rates of growth. Spend in China continues to grow at pace, though driven almost entirely by the ecommerce platforms, Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. Digital remains the dominant growth area with a quarter of Asia Pacific advertising spend expected to be delivered through mobile for the first time. Digital will be the leading form of advertising in half of the markets that we track in the region.”

Speaking on the Indian context, Kartik Iyer, President- Media Brands and Amplifi – Dentsu Aegis Network India said, “India’s ad spend is projected to grow at 10.5% as compared to the beginning of the year when the growth was expected to be over 11%. Digital continues its rapid growth (31.9%) with online video gaining in share. This has been driven largely by the availability of high speed connectivity across the country, it is only set to grow faster. TV with a projected market share of 39.1% continues to lead the media share of pie with Print at 29.3%. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some forward thinking brands trying to use Video Instead of TV in a few test and learn cases.”