MPA Charts AsiaPac Ad Gains

Advertising revenues across the Asia Pacific are set to rise 6.2 percent this year, following a 6.1-percent increase last year, to reach about $184 billion, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA).

The findings were released in MPA’s Asia Pacific Advertising Trends 2018, which looked at ad spend in 14 major markets across the region.

By 2022, MPA projects AsiaPac ad spend will reach $226 billion, reflecting a 5.5-percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2017.

“Market momentum for Asia Pacific as a whole should hold steady over 2018 and 2019, but we expect a slight deceleration from 2020 as online advertising, increasingly the main engine of growth across the region, settles into a gentler trajectory in some large ad markets,” noted Vivek Couto, executive director of MPA. “Much of digital’s growth will be driven by China, which should retain more than 60 percent of online advertising in Asia Pacific over our forecast period.”

Couto said that traditional TV advertising is in or near decline in most markets, peaking at $54 billion last year. “That said, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are notable exceptions, underscoring the ongoing importance of mass-market broadcast as a platform for reach and awareness in these growth economies. Overall, TV advertising should contract very slightly from 2017 to 2022, at a -0.1 percent CAGR.”

Asia’s largest ad market, China, delivered a 9.9-percent growth rate in 2017 for a net ad spend of $86 billion, driven by digital—namely mobile—and a strong economy. MPA projects a 6.9 percent CAGR from 2017 to 2022, reaching $120 billion. Online platforms accounted for 56 percent of the Chinese ad market last year; this should rise to 68 percent in 2022.

Gains in the Indian ad market slowed last year to 6.9 percent following three years of double-digit growth. The ad market, which reached $9 billion in 2017, was impacted by the effects of the country’s 2016 banknote demonetization as well as a new goods and services tax. However, MPA says India will return as the region’s fastest-growing ad market over the next five years. It projects a 10.9 percent CAGR from 2017 to 2022, reaching $15 billion.

The second fastest-growing ad market over the next five years is projected to be the Philippines at a 10.8 percent CAGR, followed by Thailand at 8 percent and China fourth. Australia, Hong Kong and Thailand are expected to pick up speed compared with the 2012-2017 period, while Indonesia and Japan are likely to sustain the pace they’ve been on. Five markets are expected to see growth rates of less than 2 percent CAGR in the forecast period: New Zealand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore.

MPA also points to the strength of the internet ad market, which rose by 18.1 percent last year to reach $76 billion, with a projected 14.4 percent increase this year to hit $87 billion. Online ad spend already accounted for more than half the market in Australia and China in 2017, while Taiwan is forecast to cross the half-way mark in 2019. Online video advertising, meanwhile, is “entering into a red-hot growth phase,” MPA says. By 2022, online video platforms will contribute at least 10 percent of all advertising in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.