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| Digital media's ad spend rises 74 per cent |
| Mihir Mishra / New Delhi May 18, 2009, 00:37 IST |
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The advertisement expenditure (adex) of the digital media, which includes internet and mobile mediums, has increased by 74 per cent to Rs 680 crore in 2008-09, shows a survey by Group M.
According to the survey, the digital media will see a growth of 25 per cent this year as compared with just 7 per cent for TV and a fall to -2 per cent and -4 per cent for newspapers and magazines, respectively.
Industry players attribute the adex growth to the size of the internet users, price factor, good return on investment and on the accountability of the medium.
As Madison India CMD Sam Balsara puts it, “Internet is a narrowcast medium and is more accountable than other forms of media.”
“In the online space, the response is immediate and return on investment is high, which makes it a success,” says Juhi Ramakrishnan, director (mconsult), GroupM.
Advertisers agree. Maruti, which is a leading advertiser in the digital space and spends two per cent of its total adex on this medium, says the presence on internet offers good value for money due to its focused and large reach.
The online user base in India is 45.3 million by September 2008, according to the latest Internet and Mobile Association of India report — 42 million are urban and the remaining 3.3 million rural.
Also, the ad rates on the internet, compared with other forms of media, play a vital role in increasing the revenue of the segment.
Industry players predict a good future for the internet medium. Balsara predicts that the sector will see a rapid growth in the next two to three years.
“Percentages are not important. The internet’s share in the total adex is 15-16 per cent in many Western countries, while in India it is just two or three per cent. That is because we lacked infrastructure which is rapidly picking up and the sector, in the next two three years, will see a boom,” said Balsara.
Most agree that the rise of the internet medium will not be at the cost of other mediums in future. “During bad times, which the world is in now, it might eat into others' share. But in the long run, all mediums cater to different sections of the society, so chances of internet eating into others' shares is bleak,” said Ramakrishnan.
In any case, most agree it's a medium for the future and will grow exponentially as marketers experiment with the medium and get success. No surprises, therefore, that companies like Hindustan Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Cadbury’s and Tata Tea etc have increased their digital ad budgets for individual brands sharply.
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