Asia Pacific to continue to lead global ad spend growth in 2019, but investments growth set to drop
The Asia Pacific will continue to be a leading contributor to global ad spend growth in 2019, contributing 42% of the global increase, according to Dentsu Aegis Network’s latest advertising spend forecast.
Growth will continue to be dominated by digital (49%), with digital dominating close to half of APAC's share of total ad-spend.
In 2018, the holding company forecasted that the region would contribute 39.7%, US$8.1 billion of the total US$20.3bn incremental global increase, led by markets China, Japan, India, and the Philippines. It also predicted that digital will overtake TV and will account for 38.3% share of total ad spend.
This year, Denstu predicts growth will continue to be dominated by digital (49%), with digital dominating close to half of APAC's share of total ad-spend. Digital will be the leading channel in 26 of 59 markets analysed, with Malaysia and Singapore joining this list for the first time.
With China coming in at 63%, followed by Australia (52%), New Zealand (49%) and Hong Kong (48%). Dentsu says this suggests that there is room for further gains for the region.
In addition, mobile will dominate growth as over half of APAC spend (58%) now delivered through mobile devices.
However, as 2019 will not benefit from global events such as the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and the FIFA World Cup, there will be a slowing of growth in terms of investment across 10 of the top 13 advertising markets worldwide.
This means that there could be a decrease in growth in investments in APAC, with Dentsu predicting a 4.5% growth in 2019, down from 4.6% in 2018, taking total investment to USD $220bn.
“The Asia Pacific continues to see growth through digital connectivity – driven not only by advances in technology but the increasing speed of consumer adoption,” said Nick Waters, the outgoing chief executive officer of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific.
“This region has been leading the way in the uptake of new technology for quite some years, and the world-leading growth in digital seen in this forecast continues to show the Asia Pacific at the forefront of new developments in this area. In China where digital penetration is highest, the trend shows little sign of slowing down.”