Carat's Ad Spend Report maintains +3.5% YoY growth for OOH in 2016 globally

Leading global media network Carat in its ‘Ad Spend Report’ released this month has updated the forecasts for worldwide advertising expenditure, showing a positive outlook for the global advertising market in 2016, accounting for a +4.4% year-on-year growth. Based on data received from 59 markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA, Carat’s global forecasts show that advertising spend will reach $548.2 billion in 2016. Despite a slight decline due to volatility in some markets, the positive momentum of the global advertising spend is expected to continue into 2017 reaching $570.4 billion. In Asia Pacific, the buoyant Indian advertising market continues to lead growth prospects of +12.0% in 2016 and +13.9% in 2017.

Carat’s advertising expenditure forecasts are compiled from data which is collated from around the Carat network and based on Carat’s local market expertise. They use a bottom-up approach, with forecasts provided for 59 markets covering the Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Rest of World by medium - Television, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Cinema, Out-of-Home and Digital Media. The advertising spend figures are provided net of negotiated discounts and with agency commission deducted, in current prices and in local currency. For global and regional figures they convert the figures centrally into USD with the average exchange rate.

With every other media formats, Carat’s Ad Spend Report also forecasts and reconfirm year-on-year growth for OOH Media by +3.5%


The report reflects on regional breakdowns as well and mentions OOH is the third largest media type in China, and is predicted to increase at a solid +4.1% in 2016 and +3.8% in 2017, with China’s metro development and airports as key growth drivers. Forecasts continue to be extremely bright in India, the highest spending and fastest growing advertising market globally. Spend is expected to accelerate by +12.0% in 2016, a buoyant year with multiple media events taking place in the market, including the T20 Cricket World Cup, the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as the state elections which involved 360 degree media assets including out-of-home.

According to the report, OOH is growing relatively strongly at +3.5% in 2016 and +3.4% in 2017, with stable share of spend of 6.9% in 2016 and 6.8% in 2017. Advances in technology, such as the digital transformation of public space and data usage, will continue to shape this media type creating new exciting opportunities for advertisers for more personalisation and relevance.


Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and MKTG Asia Pacific, said, “Carat, the leading media agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, had anticipated that the advertising spends in India will grow by 12% in 2016, and in our latest forecast we continue to maintain that. This makes India one of the fastest growing markets in APAC and the world. We also anticipate that given the tailwinds through the macro-economic factors, GST and other reforms, 2017 will have an even better growth of 13.9%. Digital will continue to be the fastest growing medium, accelerating both its growth rate and relative market share in 2017.”

“We expect the digital growth to be about 31.5% in 2016 and to accelerate to nearly 40% in 2017. Mobile will drive the digital growth immensely and India will transform from a “Mobile First” to a “Mobile Only” market very rapidly, aided by better broadband penetration and drop in data rates. What is also unique about India is that all types of media, including print, still continue to grow, albeit at different rates. This is the first time an in-depth, realistic analysis of this magnitude has been done for our market and I am sure, in consonance with its leadership position, Carat will continue to provide the industry with accurate and realistic market information. This not only helps our clients get a good preview to the forthcoming year but also helps us devise our business strategy by continuing to be at the cutting edge of changes and not only predicting tomorrow but in many ways influencing it for our business and our clients,” he said.