Asia Pacific Dentsu Ad Spend to Reach US$250.0 Billion in 2022 with Digital Driving the Overall APAC Spend

• Asia Pacific ad spend is expected to grow by 5.1% to reach US$250.0 billion in 2022 – US$35.7 billion above the 2019 pre-pandemic level in the region.
• Forecast indicates that Asia Pacific advertising market will increase by 3.9% to reach US$259.7 billion in 2023 and a further 4.7% in 2024. 
• Digital makes up 60.7% (US$151.7 billion) of overall APAC spend. 
• Globally, the Americas is the top advertising spend region for 2022, whilst the fastest growing markets, India at 16.0% growth will stay ahead of the US at 12.8% and Brazil at 9.0% as the fastest growing market.
• China’s advertising spend is forecast to grow by 4.0% in 2023 and 5.4% in 2024.
• India’s advertising market is projected to grow by 15.2% in 2023 and 15.7% in 2024. 

According to the most recent dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecasts, advertising spending would increase globally by 8.7% in 2022. Ad spending in Asia Pacific is anticipated to reach US$250.0 billion, with digital accounting for much of this amount. With a growth rate of 16.0% this year and predicted increases in advertising spending of 15.2% in 2023 and 15.7% in 2024, India is seeing the highest growth in the market. Forecasted spending on advertising in China is expected to rise by 4.0% in 2023 and 5.4% the following year.

The reforecast of media investment is released in the context of escalating media price inflation, geopolitical tension, upcoming key elections, and one of the most anticipated global sports events of the year, the FIFA World Cup.  Due to continued uncertainty, the current and historical comparison data has also been adjusted to remove Russian investment from the forecast, to better reflect the rest of the international ad spend trends and predictions.

Prerna Mehrotra, CEO Media APAC, dentsu international said, “The latest Dentsu Ad Spend July 2022 points to a continued recovery despite another year of economic uncertainty, with APAC 2022 ad spend of US$250.0 billion, based on a growth forecast at 5.1%.  However, continued lockdowns in key markets, geo-political tension and ongoing supply logistics issues could add pressure on businesses with a cascading impact on marketing spends.”

Looking ahead, dentsu expects the 2023 global advertising market to increase by 5.4% to reach US$778.6 billion followed by a further 5.1% increase in 2024.

Mehrotra continues; “This year, India (+16.0%), Malaysia (+11.0%) and Hong Kong (+10.1%) have all achieved double-digit growth. Digital continues to drive growth accounting for 60.7% of all spending in Asia Pacific with Social, video and search predicted to lead digital growth.  Advertisers increase focus and resources into ecommerce, display, and search budgets to respond to the new consumption habits. Marketers need to better understand their audiences and meet their needs with relevant messaging as online behaviour surges in Asia. Use of first party data to identify the most profitable customers, combined with third-party data to target the prospects in the most efficient channels will help drive efficiency and manage costs.”

Peter Huijboom, Global CEO, Media and Global Clients, dentsu international said, “Even with everything which has happened in recent months, not least the protracted war in Ukraine and its international repercussions, the advertising recovery remains strong on a global scale.  And, despite factors such as inflation putting pressure on household budgets, combined with 2021 being a tough comparative year, we have only marginally revised down our 2022 global growth forecast by just 0.4 percentage points."

“Despite global economic uncertainty, brands are continuing to prioritise their spend in channels which will give them both the digital-flexibility and return they seek.  It is through our clear and robust insight and understanding of the market we are able to work with clients to navigate what’s next and partner with them on their future investment.”

Overall ad spend growth in Asia Pacific is boosted by key sporting events such as Indian Premier League, FIFA World Cup, Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and country elections in Australia and India. Digital continues to be the powerhouse driving APAC ad spend, as the fastest growing medium at 11.5% to reach US$151.7 billion, a 60.7% share of total ad spend. Fuelling this is the double-digit growth of Programmatic (32.3%), Paid Social (27.4%), and digital display (13.3%) in 2022. In SEA, TV spend is still significant, with the largest share (57.2%) of total SEA spend (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), and a growth rate of 4.6%. 

Globally, Out-of-Home (OOH) and cinema will both see encouraging double-digit growth in 2022 (respectively 11.5% and 19.6%). Radio is also forecast to grow, much faster than initially considered with a new reforecast of 5.0% for the year, up from 2.0% in the January predictions – which is mainly due to faster return to office working. As with previous predictions, ad spend in newspapers and magazines will continue to decline. 

In 2022, the Americas will be the top ad spend region at US$329.6 billion and the most dynamic with spend increasing by 13.1%. India at 16.0% growth will stay ahead of the US at 12.8% and Brazil at 9.0% as the fastest growing market.

Industry wise globally, the greatest growth is forecast for the Technology sector (+11.3%), which has benefited from people’s greater reliance on digital devices. Retail is one of the key sectors of spend growth at a rate of 11.0% in 2022. The sector is driven by a number of factors including the significant growth of e-commerce, the entry of new players, and the introduction of emerging retail platforms. In Asia Pacific, technology, automotive and cosmetics and personal care are among the fastest growing sectors. 

This dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecast not only looks at the data from 58 markets, but also examines some of the key factors impacting ad spend shift, such as inflation increases, sustainability regulation, acceleration of gaming as an ad medium, doubling down on addressable media and also the importance of buying attention as core metric.

The full dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecast - July 22, which also includes details of APAC spend, can be downloaded for free here: Dentsu Ad Spend July 2022

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For further information, contact:  

Karen Chang | Associate Communications Director, dentsu APAC

karen.chang@dentsu.com

About the dentsu Ad Spend forecast

Advertising expenditure forecasts are compiled from data collated from Dentsu International brands until the second half of May 2022 and based on local market expertise. Dentsu International uses a bottom-up approach, with forecasts provided for 58 markets covering the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA by medium: Digital, Television, Print, Out-of-Home, Radio & Cinema. The advertising spend figures are provided net of negotiated discounts and with agency commission deducted, in current prices and in local currency. Global and regional figures are centrally converted into USD at the May 2022 average exchange rate. The forecasts are produced biannually with actual figures for the previous year and latest forecasts for the current and following years all restated at constant exchange rates. While ad spend for the Russian market was present in the January 2022 edition of the dentsu Ad Spend Forecasts, this has been removed from this July 2022 edition and all values for previous years, referenced in this edition, have similarly been adjusted for accurate comparison. Note historical ad spend figures have all been restated to constant exchange rates at May 2022.