Online Advertising

Digital Ad spend in India to grow 28% in 2021

It is not surprising to see advertising will grow in the year 2021. It does grow year on year, but after a dull 2020 due to the pandemic, the ad revenue had to only grow.

Two reports, GroupM [Mint, ET] & Pitch Madison quote different numbers.

GroupM’s Projections For Advertising For 2021

GroupM forecast report ‘This Year Next Year 2021′ published in the media doesn’t list the absolute numbers directly, one has to do simple math to derive the absolute revenues. Global ad spends are estimated to see a rise of 10 per cent in 2021, digital is expected to take 67 per cent of ad spends

Total ad revenues: 2019 Rs 82,846 crore ($11.42 billion), 2020 Rs 65,034 crore ($8.97 billion), 2021* Rs 80,123 crore ($11 billion)
2020 vs 2019: Advertising fell by 21.5%
2021 vs 2020: Advertising will grow by 23.2%
2021 vs 2020 incremental ad spend: Rs 15,000 core ($2 billion), digital ad spend’s share is projected to be 40% Rs 6,000 crore $828 million)
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), ecommerce, auto, telecom, retail, and durables to be growth drivers of ad spends in 2021

Digital media ad spend in 2019: Rs 22,356 core ($3.08 billion)
Digital Media ad spend in 2020: Rs 21,908 crore ($3.06 billion, contraction of a mere 2% during pandemic)
Digital Media ad spend in 2021*: Rs 28,043 crore ($3.91 billion, growth of 28%, 35% of total ad spend)

Print media ad spend in 2020: Rs 10,350 crore ($1.42 billion)
Print media ad spend in 2021: Rs 12,731 crore ($1.75 billion, growth of 23%)
TV media ad spend in 2019: Rs 35,930 crore ($4.95 billion)
TV media ad spend in 2020: Rs 30,436 crore ($4.19 billion, 14% drop from 2019)
TV media ad spend in 2021*: Rs 35,914 crore ($4.94 billion, 18% growth from 2020)

Madison’s Projections For Advertising For 2021

Total ad revenues: 2019 Rs 67,783 crore ($9.33 billion), 2020 Rs 54,226 crore ($7.46 billion), 2021* Rs 68,325 crore ($9.4 billion)
2020 vs 2019: Advertising fell by 20%
2021 vs 2020: Advertising will grow by 26%
Digital Media ad spend in 2020: Rs 16,960 crore ($2.33 billion)
Digital Media ad spend in 2021*: Rs 21,200 crore ($2.92 billion, growth of 25%)
TV media ad spend in 2020: Rs 22,521 crore ($3.1 billion)
TV media ad spend in 2021*: Rs 26,350 crore ($3.63 billion, 17% growth from 2020)

No More Cookies from 2022, Are Digital Ad Agencies Prepared?

The real challenge for the digital ecosystem starts in 2022. Cookies, which are used to track users will be phased out starting this year. 3rd party cookies are being deprecated on Chrome by Google, hence tracking the same user across publishers would not be possible. The focus going forward in digital advertising will be to preserve privacy, the challenge being how can they maintain the relevancy of the ads? Digital agencies would need to start figuring out how they will carry out their campaigns going forward.

With privacy becoming very important in every country, the only way the digital advertising system can continue is by collecting user’s data with their Consent. Today, the user has no clue how her data is being used by publishers, advertisers, agencies. This has to change, the user needs to be in control of her data. There are several frameworks that deal with Consented data sharing, the one that is expected to stand out is India’s Data Empowerment & Protection Architecture (DEPA) framework.

Online advertising in India to touch $1.6 billion in 2019

BG Mahesh

Internet application ideator and implementor. Been there and done that since early 1990s. I like to present data to the common man in the simplest manner on the internet.