By A Correspondent
Leading media services agency network Carat has predicted a 12 per cent growth in adspends in India in 2016. Unlike growth in the other BRIC markets – Brazil, Russia and China – advertising expenditure in India continues to accelerate, notes the report. Following a buoyant year in 2015 with a growth of 11 per cent, 2016 has begun on a positive note, the report says. This has been supported by T20 Cricket World Cup and the state elections. Meanwhile, Carat’s first forecasts for 2017 predict continuing strong growth for the advertising market in India with an estimated increase of 13.9% and expected favourable economic conditions in which advertisers vie for consumers’ attention.
According to the report, television advertising revenues are forecast to grow by 12.3% in 2016, supported by strong spending from e-commerce companies and FMCG brands. While TV is expected to remain dominant for many years to come, advertisers are increasingly utilising online video as an invaluable complement, the study notes, adding that the share of total digital advertising spend in India is still relatively low at 8.9% (2016).
On the print sector, the report says that unlike in other markets, positive newspaper advertising spend growth is expected to continue at 10.5% in 2016, primarily due to investment from e-commerce, automotive and a small contribution from government spending. Retail advertisers also continue to spend on the print media.
Meanwhile, Carat has also publishe its first forecast for worldwide advertising expenditure in 2017, combined with its latest forecasts for 2016 and actual figures for 2015, showing positive global outlook led by the continued investment in Digital media spending. Based on data received from 59 markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA, Carat’s global forecasts highlights that advertising spend will reach US$538 billion in 2016, accounting for a 4.5% year-on-year increase. Fuelled by high-interest media events taking place during the year – including the US presidential elections, Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics and the UEFA EURO 2016 championship – the positive outlook for 2016 is predicted to continue into 2017, with Carat’s forecast highlighting a consistently strong year-on-year global advertising growth of 4.5%.
Carat’s forecasts reconfirm the rise of digital as the established driver of global advertising spend growth. Powered by the upsurge of Mobile (+37.9%), Online Video (+34.7%) and Social Media (+29.8%) in 2016, the strength of Digital is expected to continue to grow at double digit prediction levels of +15.0% this year, and a further +13.6% in 2017. Overall, Carat predicts the upsurge of digital to account for 27.0% of advertising spend in 2016 and extend significantly to 29.3% in 2017, reaching US$161 billion globally. Mobile continues to show the highest spend growth across all media in 2016, with a year-on-year estimated increase at +37.9% in 2016.
In 2015 all regions reported positive growth, from Western Europe at +2.8%, +4.3% in North America, +3.6% in Asia Pacific and Latin America at +11.0%. Regional confidence is predicted to continue in most regions in 2016, despite volatility in some individual markets. In 2016, the North American advertising market remains strong with a solid growth of +4.6%, with the upcoming presidential elections solely expected to generate US$6 billion advertising spend in the US. Western Europe’s sustained positive recovery driven by solid growth in the UK and Spain in 2015 is expected to continue in 2016 and 2017 at +3.1%. Despite a decline in global growth forecasts due to China and Brazil’s economic volatility, Asia Pacific and Latin America advertising markets remain strong in 2016, achieving +4.4% and +10.5% year-on-year growth respectively. Carat also reports an encouraging outlook for 2017 across all regions including Central & Eastern Europe, as Russia’s economy is expected to stabilise from 2016.
By media, digital continues to be the star performer for growth level globally with Hong Kong & Estonia now joining the list of 12 markets where Digital is now the principle media used based on spend. The US, Germany, Taiwan and Austria are predicted to join this list in 2018. Whilst Digital is constantly closing the gap, TV continues to command the majority of market share with a steady 42.0% in 2015 and spend is predicted to grow by +3.1% this year as the Olympic Games and US elections are predicted to generate significant TV viewership across various markets. In addition, Carat’s forecasts reconfirm the steady decline in Print* in 2016 and into 2017 with newspapers declining by -5.4% and magazines by -1.7% in 2016 whilst highlighting positive year-on-year growth in 2016 for all other media, including Outdoor (+3.4%), Radio (+2.2%) and Cinema (+2.8%), with the latter expected to grow further at +5.0% in 2017.