MUMBAI: The advertising spend in India is expected to grow by 12.5 per cent in 2018 from 9.6 per cent last year, according to Dentsu Aegis Network's latest ad spend report.
Asia Pacific ad spend growth is forecast to accelerate to +4.2 per cent in 2018, up from +3.5 per cent in 2017. The region is forecast to be the leading contributor to global ad spend growth in 2018, contributing 39.7 per cent, $8.1 billion of the total $20.3 billion incremental global increase, led by markets China, Japan, India and the Philippines.
Events will play an important role in 2018 - Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian games and state elections are all expected to stimulate ad spend growth. However, a slowing of growth in markets like Australia and China can be attributed to multiple contributing factors such as a naturally maturing market, ad fraud and data accuracy issues on top of a general economic slowdown.
Digital media channels will continue to power ad spend growth and mobile will go from strength to strength, reaching $121.1 billion having overtaken desktop as a share of total digital spend in 2017. Desktop will continue to lose global share (-1.5 per cent since 2016), versus mobile’s gains (8.2 per cent since 2016).
Video and social will also drive growth within digital ad spend, powered by smartphone take-up and mobile-video in particular. Programmatic spend will rise by 23 per cent as established players and startups compete over ad tech.
Dentsu Aegis Network CEO Jerry Buhlmann says, “The latest ad spend forecasts show a market in transformation, but not recession. The challenge for brands is to navigate an uneven economic outlook alongside a rapidly evolving tech & innovation landscape. In many markets, disruptive innovation - from mobile, voice activation and new ad tech players – is still providing new sources of growth and we forecast this trend will continue into 2018.”
Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific CEO Nick Waters adds, “Asia Pacific continues to lead the growth in digital ad spend. With the region’s fast adoption of technology and innovation, there will be a substantial shift towards mobile and smart devices. As a result, mobile online video ads will be the main drivers of growth within digital ad spend across the region. Data continues to be central to our business in Asia Pacific and with better understanding of new technologies, structures and models for business growth, agencies must help brands move from being disrupted to disruptor.”
Dentsu Aegis Network India Media Brands and Amplifi president Kartik Iyer mentions, “In India, the significant improvement in availability of high-speed networks at a lower cost is making a huge impact in the efficiency metrics of digital media. This will continue and therefore will support the faster growth of digital advertising. As marketers, we need to be prepared to harness this change and maximise engagement with our customer and thereby deliver higher returns for our brands. As an agency group, DAN has over-invested in this area and today has the largest, most experienced group of companies which are harnessing this rapidly changing area.”
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