APAC ad spend 2022: Which mediums are expected to grow?

As 2022 edges closer, the APAC market looks optimistic seeing an expansion of 11.2%, inching closer to the global average of 12% and in line with the pre-pandemic long-term regional growth. However, uncertainty remains as to whether the crisis is fully over or whether it will still see case rises and falls throughout 2022. In 2021, the advertising economy in APAC grew by 16.5%, following the 0.8% decline in 2020, according to MAGNA's global advertising forecast.

Linear advertising spending grew by 6.5% in 2021, and is expected to increase by 2.7% in 2022, representing 34% of the total advertiser budgets. TV advertising spending grew by 8.3% in 2021 to reach US$51.3 billion, and is expected to increase by 1.9% in 2022, making up 22% of total advertiser budget. Meanwhile, print ad sales dropped by 2.8%, and will remain stagnant in 2022, representing just 4% of total advertiser budgets. In 2021, OOH advertising increased by 9.6%, and will grow by  another 7.9% in 2022 and represent 5% of total budgets.

Digital advertising spending, expectedly continues to grow, and even accelerated since COVID-19. Digital advertiser revenues grew by 23% in 2021, and will grow by 16% in 2022, representing two thirds of total advertiser budgets. 

In APAC, like in most global regions, lower funnel direct digital ad formats continue to perform better than upper funnel brand advertising-related formats. Leigh Terry, CEO Mediabrands APAC explained that as the pandemic continues to impact consumer lifestyle options and choices across many markets, it comes as no surprise that accelerated digital ad revenues continue to take share, growing by 23% in 2021, with a predicted 16% in 2022.

“However we can see that APAC consumption is even more significantly skewed towards eCommerce than it is in mature western markets. Giants such as Alibaba, JD.com, Rakuten, and Pinduoduo, have grown to the point where shopping online is just as large as shopping in person, while ecommerce sales account for an average market share of 20% of total retail sales in the West,” said Terry.

Singapore

This year saw Singapore's advertising sales increase by 14.4%, reaching US$1.7 billion in 2021, while its economy GDP increased by 8.6%. According to MAGNA, this comes as the government looks to switch from a "zero COVID-19 policy" to a policy of learning to live with the virus. As a result, consumer behavior has returned to something close to normal, leading brands to deploy the dollars they cut in 2020 to take advantage of the new reality.

Linear advertising revenues has increased by 6%, making up 60% of total budgets; the best performance since 2010. However, this is also due to the massive drop (16%) that was seen during the peak of the pandemic in 2020. Hence, linear advertising revenues still only represent 88% of pre-pandemic levels. Among them, TV advertising spending grew by 8% in 2021, representing 31% of total budgets. Meanwhile, spending on OOH grew by 27%, failing to cover the 30% loss it suffered in 2020.

On the other hand, digital advertising revenues grew by 30%, the strongest performance the market has seen since 2014. Digital advertising represent 40% of the total advertiser budgets in Singapore.

Mobile device campaigns saw the most spending , with a 35% growth and 78% representation of the total digital budgets. Other formats that saw significant growths were search (37%), social (33%), and video (23%).

Overall, digital advertising will continue to outperform linear advertising formats, and will eventually represent 60% of total advertiser budgets by 2026.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong's advertising sales saw a 24% increase in 2021, reaching US$3.8 billion, while its economy GDP grew by 6.9%; following 2020's 6.2% decline

Digital advertising revenues grew by 30%, making up 45% of total budgets. This was the strongest growth, since 2017, led by mobile device spending, which increased by 36% and represents 73% of the total digital advertising budgets. Other formats that saw a significant increase were social media (35%), video (35%) and search advertising (34%). Additionally, the market's digital video landscape continues to be the strongest, making up 43% of the digital spending - one of the highest totals globally.

Meanwhile, linear advertising revenues grew by 20% this year, reaching US$2.1 billion, making up 55% of total budgets. While this was the market's best performance for linear advertising on record they only made up 89% of its pre-pandemic values. TV spending grew by 25%, recovering its losses during the pandemic. Print saw a small jump of 8%, but only reached 63% of its pre-pandemic values due to its 42% decline in 2020. 

Brand marketing has changed in Hong Kong due to the pandemic, as demands on discounts and bonuses for linear media increased.

Furthermore, there are more ad-hoc planning and last-minute campaign changes in reaction to market changes, and more efforts spent on contingency plans. Finally, there are also stronger eCommerce and social commerce efforts from advertisers. As such, Hong Kong's advertising spending is expected to grow by 8% to reach US$4.1bn in 2022; primarily due to the forecasted post-pandemic environment in the market.

Malaysia

Malaysia's advertising revenue saw a 18.2% increase in 2021, reaching US$1.2 billion, while its economy GDP grew by 4.2%; following 2020's 6.3% decline. Brands in Malaysia were at first heavily reliant on digital advertising formats due to the market's lockdown at the start of the year.

Digital advertising spending grew by 30%, making up 60% of total budgets.

This was the strongest performance since 2014, led by mobile device spending, which increased by 39% and represent 70% of the total digital budgets. Other formats that saw a significant increase were social media (37%), video advertising (30%), and search (30%).

Digital advertising is expected to continue outperforming linear advertising formats, and eventually represent 60% of total advertiser budgets by 2026. For starters, ad spending in 2022 is expected to grow by12%, hitting US$1.5 billion. Meanwhile,  GDP will continue to grow by mid-single digit percentages, and linear budgets will take another year to stabilize before shifting towards stagnation or decline in 2023 and beyond.

Looking forward, digital advertising spending will continue to significantly outperform linear budgets, and by 2026, digital formats will represent 72% of total advertiser budgets. In 2021, linear advertising revenues increased by 4%, reaching about half a million - a minute increase when compared to 2020's 39% decrease. Linear budgets remain at 64% of its pre-pandemic values. Only TV spending came close to achieving pre-pandemic values, as it witnessed a 14% increase this year and is now 90% of its pre-pandemic total.

Cinema advertising saw a steep decline as they had to cease operations until further notice. Hence, the market noticed a trend of advertisers booking TV by the week so that does not get caught off guard by any new developments regarding the pandemic. Similarly, the lack of footfall resulted in a small jump of 18% for OOH spending this year, following last year's 44% decline. 

Indonesia

This year, Indonesia saw its advertising sales increase by 16.6%, reaching US$8.2 billion in 2021, while its economy GDP increased by 3.2%. The values were slightly dipped due to the spike in cases during the first half of 2021, which prompted changes in advertising methods and channels. A surge in cases is also expected sometime in the future, following the emergence of the Omicron variant. However, despite the additional challenge, ad spending remained strong this year and will continue its strong performance heading into 2022, with an expected growth of 10%.

Digital advertising spending grew by 30%, making up close to 50% of total budgets.

This was the strongest growth, since 2017, led by mobile device spending, which increased by 39% and represent about two-thirds of the total digital advertising budgets. Other formats that saw a significant increase were search (35%), social media (35%) and video advertising (28%)

On the other hand, linear advertising spend grew by 6% this year, reaching US$4.2 billion. However, this only makes up 85% of its pre-pandemic values. All linear channels had not regained the spending they have lost during COVID-19. TV spending saw a slight increase of 7%, but print continued to lose budgets as it saw a 11% drop last year. OOH advertising had grown by 42% to essentially regain all the spending it lost during the pandemic. Cinema advertising alaso remains significantly below its pre-pandemic total, representing just 75% of prior budgets.

In 2022, advertising spend is expected to see an 18% increase, making up 52% of total advertiser budgets. Moving forward, digital advertising revenues are expected to surpass that of linear formats, eventually making up 61% of the market's advertising budget. 

Global outlook

Chinese media owners advertising revenues grew by 16.7% in 2021, the strongest performance since 2011. This brings the total ad market size to US$98 billion, retaining its place as the second largest market globally behind the US. The market's advertising revenues grew by 2.6%, while it's GDP increased by 8%. Digital ad spending in China grew by 20%, reaching US74 billion and representing 75% of the total advertising budgets. This growth was led by mobile device spending, which increased by 23% and represents 85% of the total digital advertising budgets. 

In 2022, the Chinese market is expected to grow by 12.6% to reach US$110 billion, primarily due to digital channels. By 2026, digital advertising revenues will represent 85% of total brand budgets in China. Meanwhile, TV spending increased by 8.3%, representing 17% of total advertising budgets. This is expected to increase with the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

 The global economy has recovered in-line with expectations and, in most markets, so has marketing activity and advertising spending. Global all-media advertising spending grew by almost 22% to reach a new all-time high of US$710 billion. This 22% growth represents the highest growth rate ever recorded by MAGNA.

Linear ad format sales (TV and long-form video, radio, print, OOH, cinema) grew by 9% to reach US$268 billion worldwide. Most of the growth came from demand-driven inflation in media costs, rather than increased volumes, ad loads or impressions.

Digital ad formats proved once again that organic growth factors - beyond simple economic and marketing recovery - are turbocharging adoption and spending. Changes in lifestyles, media consumption, and business models continued to fuel an acceleration in digital marketing from national consumer brands as well as small, local and “direct” advertisers. Digital advertising formats (search, social, video, banners, digital audio) grew by 31% to reach US$442 billion or 146% of the pre-COVID market size. Digital ad formats now account for 62% of total advertising sales worldwide.