Indian ad market growth to halve by 2012: MPA

The growth of India’s advertising industry is set to halve to 10 per cent by 2013, according to the latest projections by Media Partners Asia (MPA), a leading international media research agency. This is, however, in line with a general projected slowdown in the region (see table), the Hong-Kong-based agency said.

India, however, will still grow faster than China, Malaysia, and Indonesia, the agency said. “The compounded annual growth rate of India between 2008 and 2013 will be 12.8 per cent, ahead of China (11.8 per cent) and Indonesia (11.4 per cent),” the report added.

MPA’s projections are significant because they contradict some of the earlier projections made by other international research agencies at the start of the year, showing that the Indian advertising industry would be growing at 18 to 22 per cent over the next three or four years.

According to the report, most of the Asian countries are expected to witness a slowdown in their advertising industry and the Asian markets’ average growth will touch 5 per cent in 2008 against over 7 per cent last year.

The MPA report said: “...the growth of advertising on television and print media will come at a significant cost because of intensifying competition and increasing diversification....Print media will continue to lose market share with the notable exception of India, while newspapers will remain significant advertising platforms in Southeast Asian markets like Singapore and Malaysia.”

This report gains significance as the Indian media and entertainment market is expected to grow at over 18 per cent riding on the back of the increasing penetration of television, cable, direct-to-home (DTH) and the print medium.

“Any slowdown in the ad-industry’s growth has a direct impact on the television and print medium and an overall consumer spending. But the good news is that the growth will be in double digits as suggested by MPA,” said an expert on the media and entertainment industry.