Advertising growth in India, for the year 2014, will stand at 11.6% versus the 10% growth last year, predicts GroupM India, one of the largest media buying companies in the country and part of marketing communications group WPP Plc, in its annual forecast. As a result, the industry, pegged at R38,597 crore, will cross the R40,000-crore-mark, to close 2014 at R43,065 crore. Digital media shows the maximum growth with 35%. This is followed by 12% in television, a drop from 13.6% in 2013. Cinema remains constant at 12% for this year as well. The print medium shows a significant increase by 8.5% as against the 2013 estimate of 4.6%, owing to growth in vernacular print publications across the country. Television remains the largest beneficiary of ad spends and sees R18,883.4 crore ad budgets this year, up from R16,860.2 crore last year. Newspapers will see R15, 459.4 crore spend this year, up from R14,248.3 crore last year. The findings were released as part of its annual advertising expenditure report called ?This Year Next Year 2014?. GroupM India has over a 40% share in media billings in India, as per Recma, an independent organisation that measures the media agency sector.
CVL Srinivas, chief executive officer, GroupM South Asia said the year 2014 may not be a spectacular year as far as ad spending is concerned. If elections were to be kept aside, India?s ad expenditure would probably close at a 9% rate of growth, which is a significant dip over last year. ?We are cautiously optimistic about the media industry in 2014,? said Srinivas. ?Sectors such as fast moving consumer goods, retail and auto will continue a stable increase in ad spends. We will see an increase in rural spending by fast moving consumer goods companies and telecom.? As per him, the first half of the year will continue to be uncertain given the general economic and political environment, and ambiguity surrounding the measurement system for media consumption. However, advertising by political parties is expected to give a boost to the ad expenditure by up to 2.5%. ?We envisage a stronger second half with an upsurge in ad spends,? he said. 2014, as per him, is a year of many ifs and buts. ?There is uncertainty over who is going to come to power and how stable the government is going to be. “With the Indian Premier League (IPL), we still don?t know where it would be held. Also, there are a lot of issues on audience measurement. Television ratings will transition from the current system to the proposed new system and perhaps, there will be a dark period of no ratings. We seem to be seeing several issues on the print measurement system as well.?
Srinivas points out that despite policy changes and looming issues on audience measurement, two of the biggest mediums?print and television?will continue to perform well. ?Television is going to see decent growth. Despite policy changes and issues in audience measurement, a lot of broadcasters continue to launch channels and there is a lot of investment in sports. The growth story for print is in the vernaculars,? he said.
GroupM cited some big trends for year 2014. Wearable technology will pick up. The year will see the decoupling of the internet from screens and start an era of more connected devices and wearable tech in areas such as personal fitness, healthcare, personal safety reminder devices, etc. Social media diversification is on the anvil with the emergence of new niches. Prasanth Kumar, managing partner (South Asia), GroupM Trading (CTG) spoke about the ?Adversioning? technology, where advertisers can play out different ads in different markets. For instance, an advertiser could relay a different ad in Bangalore and Chennai, and a different one in Delhi simultaneously, on the same national network. Companies such as Amagi and Vubites have already entered the market and are doing this here. ?Simply put, adversioning is about customising and focus. Micro targeting. It gives huge benefits, and already 2000 clients have used this,? he said.
Suku Murti, managing partner at ESP, GroupM India said that India will no longer be a one sport nation, starting year 2014. ?That is the big story in 2014. We have a billion-plus spectator base, which is dis-satisfied and are exploring more choices and options. We have 15 sports channels and two very big platforms that put out sports content?namely Star Sports and Sony Six. There?s a growing list of sponsors. One kind of sponsor says that he finds the biggest sport in this country unaffordable. Can I look at an alternative, more economic platform? Then there is another kind of sponsor, already spending a lot of money on cricket and looking to supplement it with other sports.?
Year 2014 will see five or six big leagues in diverse sports such as field hockey, soccer, badminton, tennis, golf and more, Murti added.
He asserts that there is a parallel situation playing out in the Indian music industry, which was till now dominated by Indian film songs. ?This is about to change,? said Murti, ?Pepsi and Mindshare spotted this trend early on, and began work on a channel last year called MTV Indies. There?s alternative music to be found in various parts of India. A city like Nagpur has more than 100 bands. Technology has made it very possible to publish, control piracy and to generate royalties.?