WARC says India to be fastest growing ad market with +18.5% growth in 2011

Warc’s International Ad Forecast, which covers 12 major advertising markets, predicts that India will be the fastest-growing of these countries in terms of advertising spend in 2011 and 2012. The Forecast includes all four of the BRIC markets – Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Warc reports that while India’s advertising market is the smallest in the group, it is set for rapid expansion, with growth of +18.5% in 2011 and +19% in 2012. The last time India’s ad market grew faster than the other BRIC nations was in 2003.

Warc projects that strong consumer sentiment and economic growth will lead to major increases in investment across all Indian media. Television, the country’s biggest medium accounting for more than 40% of all advertising, will grow by more than +20% in both years.

Internet investment is also set to scale rapidly from a low base, with growth of more than +40% in both years. India has lower internet penetration than the other BRIC markets, with less than +10% of the population having web access.

Suzy Young, Data Editor, Warc, said, “Even at these growth rates, there is still lots of room for Indian advertising to grow further. Internet access, for instance, is still largely restricted to urban areas.”

Among the other BRIC economies, Russia is forecast to grow +17% in 2011, followed by China (+12.5%) and Brazil (+11%).

Globally, Warc’s quarterly International Ad Forecast predicts average growth in expenditure on main media advertising across the world’s 12 major advertising markets will accelerate from +4.6% at current prices in 2011 to +5.5% in 2012.