India ad spend expected to accelerate by over 12% in 2016: Carat Report

Carat, the global media agency under the Dentsu Aegis Network has released its global Ad Spend Report for the year 2016-17. It predicts healthy growth in global advertising spend in 2016 at 4.4%, supported by major media events, including US presidential elections, the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, and the UEFA EURO 2016 football championship. Total advertising spend is expected to hit US$548.2 billion this year.

The report reveals that in Asia Pacific, the buoyant Indian advertising market continues to lead growth prospects of 12.0% in 2016 and 13.9% in 2017. Conversely, more moderate growth remains in China where advertising spend is expected to increase by 5.7% in 2016 and +5.5% in 2017, as the market adjusts to a 'new normal' economic landscape.

Some more highlights from the India market:

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.

Retaining its position as one of the fastest growing world economies with real GDP growth of 7.5% in 2016, the positive advertising outlook for the Indian market is expected to continue in 2017, growing further by 13.9%.

India is one of the few large markets where all traditional media platforms still show positive growth. Holding the highest share of spend of 38.5% in 2016 and 38.0% in 2017, TV is forecast to grow by 12.3% in 2016 and 12.5% in 2017, driven by investment from FMCG brands and eCommerce companies.

Newspapers still represent the second largest media type with 35.7% share of total spend in 2016, and this is expected to continue to grow by 10.5% this year and 10.8% in 2017.

As in other markets, Digital is the fastest growing media type in India (31.5% in 2016 and 39.6% in 2017), but its share of spend (8.9% expected in 2016 and 10.9% in 2017), still remains relatively low compared to the resilient traditional media.

India is gradually transitioning from a "mobile first" to a "mobile only" country. Mobile spend is forecast to grow by 27.2% in 2016 and 35.1% in 2017.

View the full report here: