Zenith Optimedia releases 2010 ad growth figures for Asia-Pacific

After having upgraded its forecast for global ad growth this year from 0.9 to 2.2 per cent, Zenith Optimedia has released ad growth figures for Asia-Pacific.

According to this forecast, Asia will be leading the way with accelerated growth in comparison to other regions.

Overall growth for APAC in 2010 is forecast to be 5.9 per cent versus 2009, however excluding Japan this figure rises to 10 per cent. This compares favourably not only to developed markets such as North America and Western Europe but also to other developing regions such as Central & Eastern Europe (5.7 per cent), Latin America (9.3 per cent) and Africa / Middle East / rest of world (6.3 per cent).

The forecast also states that Asia Pacific should make up 24 per cent of total global ad expenditure in 2010 which exceeds all other developing regions who combined will comprise 19 per cent. APAC should also leapfrog Western Europe in 2011 to become the second largest region globally.

All markets across the region are set to return to positive growth in 2010, with the exception of Japan and Taiwan. The outlook for both these markets is however more positive with only moderate decline forecast this year with figures of -0.7 per cent and -1 per cent respectively. Japan should return to positive growth in 2011.

The report also suggests that other main markets will show healthy increases with China up 7.4 per cent, India by 9.4 per cent and Australia by 6.3 per cent this year. Regional hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong also look set to grow 4.3 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively following declines last year.

The total ad spend levels in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand will still be below 2008 figures in 2010. Finally markets which showed slowed growth in 2009 should increase more rapidly in 2010 with the likes of Vietnam growing by 12.2 per cent and Indonesia by 18.8 per cent.

Unsurprisingly, as in other regions, the Internet looks set to be the fastest growing medium (up 14.6 per cent year-on-year), TV is also set to increase 8 per cent this year in the region. All markets will show positive increases in TV spend which is a key driver of growth given that the medium comprises over 42 per cent share of total ad spend. Specifically the medium in China looks set to increase by 16 per cent, a more pronounced increase due to the knock on effect of the reduction in TV inventory driving up prices.

Globally, paid search will be the key growth engine for the internet and going forward this should be the same across Asia-Pacific, albeit with growth coming off a small base in several Asean markets. As in other regions, newspapers and magazines face an uphill struggle to retain share in the face of new media providers. Newspaper’s share of ad expenditure in Asia-Pacific was 24.2 per cent in 2009 and is predicted to drop to 20.4 per cent by 2012, while magazine’s share is predicted to fall from 5.7 per cent to 4.7 per cent across the same period.