The Indian advertising market is expected to grow strongly at 16.8 per cent in 2014 to reach Rs.37,000 crore. The Pitch Madison Media Advertising Outlook 2014 said the market grew 11.1 per cent in 2013 to reach Rs.31,877 crore.
Presenting the report, Sam Balsara, Chairman & Managing Director, Madison World, said the expected high growth was because 2014 was an election year. “We expect nearly 50 per cent of this growth or Rs.2,500 crore to come from the Lok Sabha elections and five State elections. Not only will political parties spend, but hundreds of individual candidates, we expect, will unleash small campaigns in print and outdoor. Organic growth and new advertisers will fuel the rest”.
Ad cap in TV would fuel rate hike, regional dailies would continue to grow and the Phase-3 roll-out of Radio was expected to attract new local advertisers, he added.
Mr. Balsara attributed the 11.1 per cent growth in 2013 to the fact that many advertisers tried to counter the slowdown with increased advertising. “FMCG, telecom and auto were the major sectors that increased spend and real estate added to print spends,” he said. In 2013, print advertising was the largest segment accounting for 41.3 per cent followed by TV at 39 per cent, digital at 10 per cent and outdoor, radio and cinema making up the balance 10 per cent.
TV advertising grew 8.2 per cent and can grow 15 per cent in 2014 “on the back of reduced inventory because of ad cap, launch of carefully positioned new channels by existing networks and elections”. Print advertising grew 10 per cent and can grow 17 per cent in 2014.
For the first time, FMCG became the largest contributor to print and TV, overtaking auto and education, the report said. In 2013, Hindi dailies toppled English dailies with a share of 38 per cent.
India maintained its 12 position in the global ad-spend ranking with the U.S. continuing to dominate with a 40 per cent share. The report said that in 2013, India was the second fastest growing market behind Russia. “If our prognosis turns out to be right, India will be the fastest growing advertising market of the world,” Mr. Balsara said.
