Over Third of Global Ad Spend to Come from APAC by 2020

Asia Pacific (APAC) is now the biggest driver of global ad spend growth, with the region set to account for 33.8% of global ad expenditure by 2020, according to Zenith’s Advertising Expenditure Forecasts.

Furthermore, APAC is set to contribute 43% of all the new ad dollars added to the market between 2017 and 2020 – accounting for $32.1 billion of the total $75.1 billion.

China remains the region’s leading growth market, accounting for 22% of global growth followed by India (5%), Indonesia (4%), Japan (3%), the Philippines (3%) and South Korea (2%).

North America, currently the largest advertising region, is falling behind, with the region expected to contribute 27% of new ad dollars between 2017 and 2020, while its share of global ad spend falls from 37.1% to 36.0%.

“Dynamic markets in the Asia Pacific are leading the way in global ad spend growth, growing at 5% to 6% a year,” said Jonathan Barnard, Zenith’s head of forecasting and director of global intelligence; “By the middle of the next decade it will be the biggest advertising region in the world.”

Meanwhile, mobile advertising continues to outperform other traditional media formats, with mobile to account for 30.5% of global ad spend in 2020 – equating to $187 billion.

This is behind television advertising ($192 billion) and almost double the amount spent on desktop advertising ($88 billion).

In addition, mobile ad spend is dominating share from other media as expenditure increases at an average rate of 21% a year.

In contrast, television and radio ad spend are forecasted to grow by just 1% a year between 2017 and 2020 while out-of-home advertising is expected to increase by 3% annually.

Print ad spend continues to fall at a rate of 5% a year for newspapers and 6% for magazines.

“The mobile device in our pockets is becoming the gateway to our media world, but its brand-building capabilities are still in question – simply applying old practices to new technology may not translate to brand growth,” said Vittorio Bonori, global brand president at Zenith; “Having a clear understanding of how the entire ecosystem of paid, owned and earned media works together to drive return on investment is vital.”