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Video brands’ India ad spends to rise 19% by 2022: Zenith Report
KOLKATA: There is no denying that the advertising market has been in the doldrums for most of the year, owing to the Covid2019 pandemic. However, video entertainment ad spends are projected to shrink just 0.2 per cent in 2020 across ten key markets, according to the recent Zenith Business Intelligence – Video Entertainment report.
Video entertainment advertising will far outperform the ad market as a whole, which will drop by 8.7 per cent across these same markets. Moreover, India and Spain will be top of the table when it comes to ad-ex growth through 2022.
The report concluded that the resilience of video entertainment ad spend in the face of a global pandemic and subsequent recession is the result of increased demand from consumers, increased supply of content, and intense competition among video brands for viewers.
Faced with spending much more time at home, consumers have turned to video content to keep themselves informed and entertained. In France, for example, TV viewing time was 30 per cent higher year-on-year in April and was still 11 per cent higher in August.
Investment in advertising by online video brands has far outpaced traditional television recently. In the US, online video brands increased their ad budgets by 142 per cent in 2019, while television brands increased their spending by 15 per cent.
In the UK, ad spend by online video platforms increased by 79 per cent, while ad spend by traditional television grew 34 per cent. In both markets, television broadcasters and pay-TV platforms pushed up spending temporarily in response to their new competition, but this will prove unsustainable in the face of ongoing decline in their revenues, both Covid2019-related and structural.
In contrast, online video platforms have continued to raise their budgets to exploit the current window of opportunity to build a loyal customer base. Each platform is spending heavily to ensure that they are top of mind while consumers consider which ones to commit to for the long term.
“Consumers are now faced with a vast and confusing array of programmes and films vying for their attention,” Zenith global managing director Christian Lee said . “Video brands need to cut through this complexity and give consumers entertainment that matches their personal preferences with minimum fuss. Brands that provide compelling experiences and act as more than just repositories of content will be best positioned for growth in the long term.”
Here are a few highlights from the report:
Lockdown has made digital even more vital to video brands
Video entertainment brands spend more on digital advertising, out-of-home and cinema than the average brand. Their reliance on out-of-home and cinema has posed a particular challenge this year, as they have been forced to compensate for lost audiences from empty cities and closed cinemas. This means even more digital spending, which is forecast to rise from 53 per cent of total video entertainment spend in 2019 to 57 per cent in 2020.
Video entertainment ad spend to exceed 2019 peak by 1.2 per cent in 2022
While video entertainment is expected to substantially outperform the market in 2020, Zenith forecasts it to underperform over the next two years, with no growth in 2021 and 1.3 per cent growth in 2022. Online video platforms will have less capacity to raise budgets after spending heavily in 2020, and traditional TV broadcasters will be weighed down by shrinking revenues from TV advertising and pay-TV subscriptions. Nevertheless, Zenith expects video entertainment ad spend to be 1.2 per cent higher in 2022 than it was in 2019, while overall advertising will still be 0.6 per cent below its 2019 peak.
Spain and India to lead growth in video entertainment ad spend
The stable headline figures for growth hide considerable variation between the 10 markets. In 2022, video entertainment brands are forecast to spend 27 per cent more than in 2019 in Spain, and 19 per cent more in India. Meanwhile, spending is expected to decline by 5 per cent in the US and 7 per cent in Australia over the same period.
Spain and India both have fast-growing appetites for video-on-demand, especially on smartphones in India. India’s television ad market also enjoys rapid long-term growth – unlike in most Western countries – and should bounce back quickly in 2021.
The US is the only market where video entertainment ad spend is expected to continue to decline after 2020, as rising online revenues fail to compensate for the ongoing declines in TV advertising and pay-TV subscriptions, reducing available ad budgets. The video industry is healthier in Australia, but here the ad market as a whole is retrenching after the sudden halt to Australia’s 29 years of unbroken economic growth, so video brands can maintain a share of voice without raising budgets.
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
