After 21.5% fall in 2020, Indian ad spends to rise 23% to Rs 80,123 crore in 2021: Report

Advertising spends across media platforms in India will grow by 23.5 per cent in 2021 to Rs 80,123 crore in 2021 after a sharp 21.5 per cent decline in the pandemic-hit 2020, a media buying agency estimated on Tuesday.

Terming the estimates as “not optimistic, but realistic”, GroupM South Asia's chief executive Prasanth Kumar pointed out that they will still be lower as compared to the nearly Rs 83,000 crore achieved in 2019.

Weeks before the announcement of the pandemic, the agency had estimated a 10.7 per cent growth in ad spends for 2020 to Rs 91,641 crore.

India's rank slipped by one notch to being tenth in the overall ad spends across the world and the handsome growth in 2021 will help it regain the 9th spot, the agency said, adding that from a share in incremental spends, the country will be at the sixth spot.

Unlike the global experience, where digital is gaining ground very fast, the ad spends in India will also have incremental spending happening on television, it said, adding that print media will also hold its 16 per cent share of the overall pie in 2021, he said.

In India, digital will have a 40 per cent share in incremental ad spends as against the 90 per cent levels seen globally, it said.

TV's share will slip marginally in the ad spends on the back of an 18 per cent growth, but the medium will continue to be at the numero uno spot with a 45 per cent share, it said, adding a 28 per cent growth will lead digital mediums to gobble up TV's share.

When asked about the lack of measurement in certain genres within TV, Kumar said the TRPs played an important role and the absence of the data presented its own set of challenges. He added that once the system comes back, it will aid advertisers.

Kumar said we have witnessed a month-on-month upturn in the industry starting from the July-September quarter last year, and the momentum will continue in 2021 with the gradual easement of the lockdown measures, seasonal spends and big-ticket events like IPL.

The global ad spends are estimated to see a rise of 10 per cent in 2021 as per the agency's estimates.