Digital ad spends will touch Rs 4,391 crore by March, 2013: IAMAI

According to the Annual Digital Advertising Report published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB, the market, currently pegged at Rs 2,851 crore, sees spends skewed towards online classifieds and search.

If any doubts remained on the massive potential that is seen in the digital advertising space, a look at the findings in the Annual Digital Advertising Report published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB looks good to dispel them.

The report states that the continuously growing market will touch Rs 4,391 crore by March, 2013. As of March, 2012, the market is pegged at Rs 2,851 crore. It is seen reaching Rs 3,535 crore by the end of the calendar year.

A further look into the study reveals how, of the total online ad spends of Rs 2,851 crore in FY 2012, the majority of more than 50 per cent was spent on online classifieds, followed by search at 20 per cent of the total spends.

Interestingly, social media spends form only 3 per cent of the total spends and the lowest in the pie is spent on online video (2 per cent).

By March 2013, spends on online classifieds are seen at Rs 2,686 crore (of the estimated market size of Rs 4,391 crore), search at Rs 723 crore and display ad spends at Rs 838 crore.

According to publicly available sources, the total size of the offline advertising market, including print, television, OOH, radio and cinema, is seen at Rs 26,501 crore in the year 2012. Comparatively, the digital market at its current valuation is almost 11 per cent of the conventional medium.

The report states that the digital ad spends have been growing at 25 per cent year-on-year basis - from Rs 1,623 crore in March, 2010 to Rs 2,277 crore in March, 2011 and eventually, to the current level.

Travel, banking, financial services and insurance sectors continue to be the highest spenders as far as display ads are concerned, followed by telecom and automobiles sectors. Education, electronic media and print media spent the least on display ads.

With the base figure rising from Rs 571 crore in FY 2011 to Rs 676 crore in FY 2012, the display ad spends by automobile companies have increased significantly. Its overall share has continued to rise steadily - from 9 per cent in FY 2010 to 13 per cent in FY 2011, and 14 per cent in FY 2012.