Global ad industry set to grow 8.4 per cent despite Chinese slowdown and inflationary sting
The global advertising industry is expected to grow 8.4 per cent this year, as global markets continue to make a slow but steady comeback.
According to WPP owned ad agency GroupM, underlying growth, which excludes US political advertising, is expected to outpace 2019.
It comes as outdoor advertising, like billboards, continue to rebound as it progresses toward pre-pandemic levels in most parts of the world. Early 2022 has been strong as audiences spend more time enjoying life out of the home again and new movement patterns emerge.
Although GroupM’s forecast a slight decline in outdoor advertising during 2022, this is down to current weakness in China — formerly the world’s largest OOH market.
Excluding China, growth should amount to 14.3 per cent this year as many markets have approached or are soon to exceed their pre-pandemic highs.
China, which represented 20 per cent of global advertising last year, is now expected to grow by only 3.3 per cent versus 10.2 per cent in the prior forecast.
Meanwhile, television advertising is expected to grow 4.4 per cent in 2022 thanks to ad-supported streaming services.
For the UK, GroupM said that despite negative headlines regarding inflation, expectations for nominal growth in 2023 are higher now than they were last year.
However, big tech regulation is a major factor in the future of advertising. The report said: “The impact of government policies and preferences on the ad-supported media is another increasingly important trend impacting the industry.
“Larger scale efforts to curb the influence of major tech companies and regulate platforms, like the EU’s Digital Services Act, are taking aim at Apple, Google and Meta via de facto or de jure efforts to break up those companies.”
“Other regulatory initiatives are popping up in America, too, with some at the state-level taking a different, politically charged approach by attempting to codify into law that platforms cannot censor content on their sites as they would like.”