GroupM revises Ad Spend growth

The new numbers suggest that the ad spends will grow by 12.5 per cent, higher than what it had predicted earlier.

GroupM, has revised its earlier estimate of annual advertising expenditure (AdEx) for 2014 to 12.5 per cent from the 11.6 per cent estimated earlier this year. The AdEx revision is part of the global report called the This Year, Next Year 2014.

Medium wise, television spends are set to grow to 14.8 per cent compared to the 12 per cent predicted earlier. Digital media continues to show the maximum growth with 35 per cent. In the print, regional publications and local advertisers are projected to lead the growth for dailies. Government spending and retail will continue to increase spending in print.

Speaking about the industry sectors contributing to the revised growth, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia, says, "After a cautious start, the overall sentiment in the country is positive following the general elections and a new stable government. One of the sectors that is adding to the growth story in India is retail, specifically e-commerce players that are investing heavily in above the line advertising along with digital media. Industries like FMCG, Auto, telecom and BFSI are expected to increase spends given competitive pressures and clear policies."

This Year, Next Year, is part of GroupM's media and marketing forecasting series drawn from data supplied by holding company WPP's worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research, and specialist communications.

The previous report was released in February this year. The report mentioned that "As per GroupM's annual report on estimations about the advertising spends in the Indian media industry, AdEx is expected to cross Rs 40,000 crore in 2014, up from Rs 38,597 crore in 2013."

This Year Next Year is a comprehensive understanding of the estimated media spends by advertisers in the current year. It also highlights some of the industry sectors that will have a major effect on advertising spends across media. GroupM is the parent company of WPP media agencies including Mindshare, Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and Motivator in India.