Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Ad expenditur­e in India to grow at 13.2% in 2018: GroupM report

- Saumya Tewari saumya.t@livemint.com

With a marginal increase of 0.2%, the advertisin­g expenditur­e in India is expected to grow at 13.2% to touch ₹69,347 crore in 2018, according to a mid-year forecast by WPP-owned media agency GroupM in its June report This Year Next Year (TYNY).

Recently, IPG Mediabrand­s-owned media agency Magna predicted that Indian ad expenditur­e will grow at 12.5% to touch ₹68,000 crore in 2018.

According to the GroupM report, sports and elections will drive television advertisin­g in India. Although print will grow at a slower rate (around 4%) election spending will provide relief. Radio is expected to do well, driven by local-focused categories such as retail, services and e-commerce. Cinema and outdoor, which is growing at 20% and 15% respective­ly, will see good growth as technology adoption increases and makes them more ad-friendly. Digital, the fastest growing medium of the

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media pie, will continue to grow at 30% to reach ₹12,337 crore.

The report stated that the initial estimates show that ad expenditur­e will pick up in 2019 growing at 14.2% to touch ₹79, 165 crore . The majority of spends will come from television (45.6%) followed by newspapers (23.7%) and internet (20.3%) .

“The Indian adex seems to have rebounded from the sluggishne­ss we saw in 2017. We expect 2019 to be even better than the current year,” said CVL Srinivas, country manager, WPP India and CEO, GroupM South Asia.

Automobile advertisin­g growth is expected to be high next year as car, scooter, luxury bikes and commercial vehicle segments will see good sales growth in 2019, driven by urban demand and infrastruc­ture investment. Telecom ad growth will be driven by mobile handsets.

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) spends will be modest given the prospect of higher raw material costs affecting margins.

Consumer durables ad spends will witness average to high growth because of low penetratio­n in consumer appliances, shorter replacemen­t cycles and extreme weather conditions.

Disney Co. is prepared to sell off businesses generating as much as $1 billion in cash flow to win regulatory approval of its $71 billion bid to buy 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainm­ent assets, it said in a filing on Thursday.

The promise, made as part of Disney’s improved offer for the assets, is double the $500 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciati­on and amortizati­on it initially offered to divest as part of the deal in December. The $1 billion in divestitur­es could include Fox’s regional sports networks, if the US department of justice orders their sale.

Disney’s new offer intensifie­d pressure on cable-TV operator Comcast Corp., which made a $65 billion bid for the Fox operations last week. The pair is battling over assets including Fox’s movie and TV studios, television networks such as FX, and multichann­el providers such as Star India and Sky Plc.

The Fox board shunned Comcast in favour of Disney six months ago, in large part due to concerns over potential regulatory problems with its offer.

NEWYORK/LOSANGELES:Walt

 ?? BLOOMBERG ?? Sports and elections will drive television advertisin­g in India, the report said
BLOOMBERG Sports and elections will drive television advertisin­g in India, the report said

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