Indian ad spend to grow 10.7% in 2020: GroupM report

Ad spend in India will grow by 10.7% in 2020 to reach an estimated US$13 billion this year, according to GroupM's annual 'This Year, Next Year' report.

 

Television continues to be the biggest contributor to this number, with Rs 38,081 crores (up from Rs 35,458 crores in 2019) worth of investments. Digital is second at Rs 27,083 crores (up from Rs 22,057 crores), almost a third more than print which is at Rs 18,140 crores (down from Rs 18164 crores).    

 

 

Digital is estimated to reach 30% of ad spend in 2020 with growth coming from 3Vs (video, voice, vernacular-Indic) and advertising on e-commerce. 

 

"While we expect sustained and stable investment across media in India, digital to garner 65% of incremental ad spends in 2020," said Prasanth Kumar, CEO of GroupM South Asia.

 

 

Tushar Vyas, president growth and transformation of GroupM South Asia, said: “There are multiple advancements happening in technology which is transforming digital advertising and other mediums. India being a diverse country, digital will keep growing, especially with the rise of content platforms and its availability in multiple languages powered by the growth of 3Vs. From a predominantly ‘at home’, ‘urban’, ‘English print’ & ‘TV’ consuming market, the Indian media consumer evolved to include ‘on the move’, ‘rural’ & ‘regional’ counterparts, experimented with digital media in the early 2010s’, adopted social media in middle of the decade and started consuming digital videos voraciously after 2016.”  

 

Sidharth Parashar, president of investments and pricing, GroupM India, added: “The format of print storytelling is changing but the content is still the strongest. With print media organisations undergoing transformation across India. Publication houses have invested heavily in promoting digital subscriptions and have started limiting access to digital versions of epapers. We believe that this would pave the way for newer business models. Print will continue to remain relevant to advertisers wanting to build credible brands. Television will continue to grow at a steady pace. This year, the growth rate for TV is estimated to be 7% and Radio is expected to grow at 6%. While cinema and OOH will grow at 15% and 6% respectively in 2020.”

 

Kumar concluded: "In 2020, India faces challenges and uncertainties across sectors just like other markets. However, this also brings opportunities for brands to innovate because of what we see an evolving media stack. This will be propelled by greater use of technology and better content across media."