Digital to overtake TV to become the largest advertising medium in India: GroupM report

According to GroupM's This Year Next Year (TYNY) report digital will overtake TV to become the largest advertising medium in 2022. The ad spend for digital is estimated to cross Rs 48,603 crore in 2022 compared to Rs 36,544 crores in 2021. The total ad expenditure for the year is estimated to reach Rs 1,07,987 crore in 2022, up from Rs 88,334 crore in 2021. 

With spends of Rs 48,603 crores in 2022, digital is expected to contribute to 45% of the total ad expenditure in the year. TV is second on the list. While the print industry is expected to get Rs 12,667 crores (up from Rs 12,067 crores) worth of advertising in the year, it's total contribution to advertising is expected to dip to 12% (from 14%).

The global ad spend growth is pegged at 11% for the financial year of 2022 compared to the growth of 21% reported in 2021. 

Zoning in on the Indian market, GroupM stated that the overall ad spend growth will reach 22.2% compared to the estimated 26.5% reported in 2021. 

Highlights of the report: 

• India ranks 10th in the fastest growing market list; ranked 9th globally and ranked 5th on incremental ad spend for 2022
• Indian ad spend is estimated to grow by 22% in 2022 compared to 2021
• All media is estimated to grow in India in 2022 compared to 2021
• TV estimated to grow by 15% in 2022 compared to 2021 in India
• For the medium of OOH, the projected growth, driven by DOOH (digital out-of-home), is at 25% growth over the current 5% value in the next few years. 

Prasanth Kumar, CEO, GroupM South Asia, said, “The pandemic has pushed the envelope towards digital and has hence topped the pie, with advertisers keen to explore more of it. Ecommerce and Telco will drive the economy, we also expect FMCG and auto to slowly catch up and contribute towards this growth.”  

Tushar Vyas, president – growth and transformation, GroupM South Asia, said, “With the pivot to digital by consumers and companies alike, digital emerges as the largest medium in 2022 with an estimated share of 45%. Digital is estimated to grow by 33% in 2022. As digital capabilities enhance and connectivity becomes omnipresent, technology will further poise and change almost every sector of India’s economy.”  

Parthasarathy Mandayam, chief strategy officer, GroupM South Asia, said, “With consumers gravitating towards themes like sustainability and sensitivity, brands are adapting rapidly, and media has the power to lead this change. Flexible, specialist and distributed teams are the order of the day and this trend will be further enhanced with the arrival of 5G. The emphasis on performance marketing has further accelerated and is at the very core of marketing. Intelligent and responsible leverage of first party data will be critical for brands and marketers in driving this.”  

Atique Kazi, president – data, performance and digital products, GroupM India, said, “Marketers will have to bring together innovation, intelligence and integration in their strategy to win on Digital. In 2022; we will also see addressable TV coming to India in some scalable form and connected tv surge with smart TV sales and new fibre/broadband connections will be on the rise. Focusing on eCommerce, performance marketing, outcome-based media and addressable data is winning formula in 2022.” 

Sidharth Parashar, president – investments and pricing, GroupM India, said, “While digital is set to take the larger pie, we are expecting a noteworthy revival for OOH and cinema too after a tough period. Advertising on e-commerce, the rise of influencers and short format videos along with OTT has witnessed growth in 2021, which would continue in 2022.”  

Ashwin Padmanabhan, president – partnerships and trading, GroupM India, said, “The rapid digital transformation of companies, brands and the way they connect with consumers is reflected in the global advertising spends as well as the way even traditional media is expanding with their digital extensions. India in 2022 will see a rapid manifestation of these Global trends and thus fundamentally altering the media industry.”