Indian advertising market growing rapidly
India will become the 15th largest advertising market by 2009, according to forecasts in a new study from GroupM. The WPP Group-owned media network predicts that media spend will reach $6.6bn by the end of next year.
The report, This Year, Next Year: India Media Forecasts, suggests that media spend will increase by 20% this year, reaching $5.6bn, and by 19% next year. It grew by 20% in 2007.
It has also found that the growth is being drive by traditional media since internet advertising is growing comparatively slowly. This is expected to accelerate as the quality of internet connections, search capability and local content improves.
Director of GroupM Futures Adam Smith, who oversees the group’s forecast reports, says: “India is clearly set to deliver sustained long-term advertising growth. It is also one of the world’s most under advertised countries since measured advertising investment accounts for only one-half percent of GDP, compared to a global norm of around 1%.”
India was the 26th largest advertising market in 2000 but has been rising since because ad spend on the sub-continent has nearly quadrupled over that period.
The news comes as advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty is poised to launch an Indian agency next month. Ogilvy & Mather, JWT, Grey and Wieden & Kennedy have already opened offices in the region and Naked and Strawberry Frog have also been reported to be considering moving into the market.
