Australia’s advertising economy will grow by +10% to reach $A22.5 billion in 2022, according to the latest forecasts by MAGNA Global.
The outlook is more optimistic than forecasts from GroupM (6.2%) and Zenith (5%).
MAGNA says Australia’s advertising market grew by 23.1% to $A20.3 billion inn 2021 driven by economic recovery.
Digital advertising spending was up 28% to $A14.5 billion, representing 71% of total ad spend.
Linear advertising formats sales rose 12% to $A5.9 billion but was still 11% smaller than the pre-COVID level, following a 21% fall in 2020.
MAGNA: "Most of Australia’s population is now vaccinated against COVID (more than 80% of the 16+ population), which is another reason why the surge in COVID cases in recent month has not led to a significant slowdown in ad spending. Mobility is also back to close to normal levels."
Digital growth in Australia -- like in much of the world -- was significantly stronger than it has been historically, and better than expectations, in 2021.
Growth was led by mobile advertising spending, which increased by 37% to $A9.8 billion.
By format, search (+35%), social media (+31%), and video (+26%) led the way.
For social media, that is the highest growth since 2016, and for search advertising, it is the highest growth rate since 2007.
Television spending grew by 16% in 2021, the best performance since 2010, and regaining all the lost revenues in 2020.
The main driver was pricing, as CPM inflation well above 20% did more than offset the erosion in ratings.
MAGNA says the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022, as well as the T20 Cricket World Cup (hosted by Australia in October), will provide a slight tailwind to viewing and spending.
Other linear formats also recovered this year (radio +14% to $A1 billion, out of home +22% to $A720 million), but print continued to decline (-10% to $A750 million).
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