Indian ad market to maintain 12% growth: Carat

By A Correspondent

Leading media agency network and the Dentsu Aegis Network’s Carat has released its updated Global Ad Spend Report for the year 2016-17.  In Asia Pacific, the buoyant Indian advertising market continues to lead growth prospects of +12.0% in 2016 and +13.9% in 2017. It may be remembered that according to its findings published in April 2016 (see story here: http://www.mxmindia.com/2016/04/12-adspends-growth-in-2016-carat/), Carat had predicted the same numbers: 12% in 2016 and 13.9 in 2017.

Says Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO South Asia at Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and MKTG Asia Pacific: “Carat 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 its 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.”

Meanwhile, based on data received from 59 markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA, Carat’s latest global forecasts show that advertising spend will reach US$548.2 billion in 2016, accounting for a +4.4% year-on-year growth. The healthy outlook is fuelled by a buoyant 2016, marked by high-interest media events including the UEFA EURO championship, the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the upcoming US presidential elections.