Ad industry to grow at 9% this year

The estimated Rs 21,000-crore advertising industry is likely to witness retarded growth of nine per cent this year, compared to a healthy 18 per cent last year as the global financial slowdown takes it toll.

According to experts, the industry will suffer mainly on account of mutual funds along with real estate and retail players tightening their purse strings and cutting on ad spends. It will, however, still post a good single digit growth as FMCG, entertainment and telecom sectors are expected to continue to carry out their campaigns.

"This is a period to reflect and improve the market, and really go to the fundamentals...However, there are categories which are not affected at all. So I'm hopeful that the advertising industry would grow by around eight to nine per cent this year," JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris told PTI.

This is in contrast to a growth of 18 per cent witnessed last year, he added.

While several companies have slashed their advertising spend by around 5-7 percent in the last two months, sectors like FMCG, telecom and entertainment are still going ahead aggressively with their marketing activities, Lodestar Universal CEO Sashi Sinha said.