Moderate Recovery Seen for Indian Adspend

LONDON: India is on track to become the world’s 15th largest advertising market this year, according to GroupM, with a 6-percent growth forecast for 2010.

Media buyers in the smallest of the BRIC countries are making the most of soft pricing this year, GroupM notes, with a 1-percent increase in spending this year, down from the 3 percent forecast over the summer. GroupM’s This Year, Next Year: India Media Forecast update values the country’s ad market this year at $4.9 billion, rising to $5.2 billion in 2010. The 6-percent increase is down from the 8-percent rise forecast by GroupM last year.

"India will make a leading contribution to ad recovery in 2010, though less V-shaped than its BRIC counterparts Brazil, Russia and China," said GroupM’s futures director, Adam Smith. "Our new long-range model predicts India will return to annual ad growth in the range 13 to 14 percent from 2011: below its former 16 percent trend, but still exceptional."