MAM
Digital & TV steer ad industry’s recovery to pre-pandemic levels in 2021: dentsu
MUMBAI: India has emerged as one of the top five markets with high year-on-year growth rate in advertising spends, said dentsu in its latest Global Ad Spend Forecast June 2021. After suffering a steep 12.9 per cent decline in 2020, the ad spend is expected to bounce back with 10.8 per cent growth in 2021, according to the report.
The forecast suggests the overall ad spend will reach $ nine billion this year, and expand further by 12.4 per cent in 2022. The growth will largely be led by Television and Digital, as Print, Cinema, OOH and Radio are expected to take a longer time to recover.
According to the data, Television continues to remain the most popular and resilient media in India, retaining a 40.9 per cent share in ad spend despite the pandemic. The medium also showed a 7.7 per cent spike in growth, as compared to the 2020 spend. Digital’s share of spend has grown rapidly, from 20.0 per cent in 2019 to 29.4 per cent in 2021, and is expected to reach 32.7 per cent by the end of 2022
India in top 5 mkts-denstu
The bi-annual report based on data from 59 markets, anticipates a full recovery for the global ad market in 2021, with spends exceeding pre-pandemic levels sooner than was previously forecast.
While 2020 remains the weakest performing year since the global financial crisis, the decline in growth during 2020 has improved since the January 2021 forecast from -8.8 per cent to -7.2 per cent. The pandemic-induced decline in global advertising spend during 2020 has also proved less severe than anticipated, it states. The overall ad market outlook for 2021 shows recovery with 10.4 per cent growth and a spend of $634 billion, which represents an improvement of 4.6 percentage points over January 2021 prediction.
Ad-spend in APAC
Overall, the ad spend in APAC is expected to grow by eight per cent, with Australia and India showing higher growth rates in 2021 compared to other countries. In APAC, the 6.2 per cent rise in digital spend last year is likely to grow by 12.8 per cent in 2021 to reach $124.5 billion, representing a 54 per cent share of total ad spend.
Regional live events such Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Games will remain significant drivers of growth in Linear TV ad spend in APAC (3.9 per cent increase in 2021 to reach $59.2 billion). The report also indicates a shift towards CTV (Connected TV) and OTT (Over The Top). With audiences moving more towards digital media consumption, Linear TV spend will remain below pre-pandemic levels until beyond 2021.
With gradual lifting of restrictions on social activities, OOH will bounce back post impact of the pandemic, rising 7.5 per cent in 2021 in the region. Cinema has a slightly longer recovery, with a further decline in 2021 (-5.0 per cent) but expected to bounce back in 2022. Radio will also see growth (4.3 per cent) in 2021.
While most channels will return to growth in 2021 (Cinema in 2022), Print is seeing a slight decline in 2021 (–2.7 per cent) and expected to continue declining in 2022, as it evolves towards new modes of digital delivery.
Meanwhile, government spending remained a key growth area, supporting the Covid vaccine rollout and other related initiatives. In APAC’s key markets, the travel and transport sectors, will still be affected by the uncertainty of the past year and see a muted increase in demand (4.9 per cent), while Media & Entertainment is forecast to see growth (9.7 per cent).
dentsu International APAC CEO Ashish Bhasin said, “It is promising to see a return to growth in the APAC region with two of our markets in the top five contributors of ad spend growth; China and Japan. While China continues to see strong levels of growth driven by Digital and OOH, Japan’s growth will be buoyed by events like the 2020 Olympic & Paralympic Games, and the House of Representative elections and the advertising spend associated with it, particularly in TV.
By market, the top five contributors to the $ 59.7 billion of growth in incremental ad spend during 2021 will be the US, China, UK, Japan and Australia. The US share of ad spend remains significantly above all other markets in 2021. The highest growth rates in 2021 are forecast to come from spend in India, Canada, the US, Australia and the UK.
Media APAC CEO & Media Singapore MD Prerna Mehrotra said, “We are optimistic that the region will bounce back to positive growth in ad spend, with some channels likely boosted higher than pre-pandemic levels. The main drivers behind the growth is economic recovery, with the APAC GDP set to increase by 7.3 per cent, and a stronger-than-ever push to digital marketing.”
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
