According to announcements of the media agency ZenithOptimedia, global adspend in 2016 will record a growth of 4.6 percent. Last year the increase was 3.9 percent. Advertising Expenditure Forecasts report states that global investment in advertising this year will amount to $579 billion USD (cca. €521 billion), while in 2017 it will exceed $600 billion (€540 billion).
“The global economy faces clear challenges – such as the ongoing slowdown in China, and recession in Brazil and Russia; the humanitarian disaster originating in Syria and uncertainty over the future of the European Union,” writes ZenithOptimedia and adds: “But advertisers’ confidence has remained largely unshaken, and our forecasts for global growth in 2016 have barely changed since we published our last forecasts in December (when we forecast 4.7% growth this year).” They based their optimism on the stabilization of the markets in the euro area and the emergence of rapidly growing markets that are now opening to international advertising.
US presidential elections, Summer Olympics and UEFA EURO 2016
Ad expenditure in 2016 is boosted by the US presidential elections, the Summer Olympics in Rio and the UEFA football championship in Europe. These events add a net US$6.1bn (€5.5bn) to the global ad market in 2016. Of this, US$3.2bn (€2.8bn) from the elections, US$2.0bn (€1.8bn) from the Olympics and US$0.9bn (€0.8bn) from the football championship. Without these events, growth in ad spend this year would otherwise be “only” 3.5%.
Europe is rapidly recovering from the crisis
Most of the European ad markets that suffered the deepest cuts from the financial crisis and its aftermath are now looking forward to better times, ZenithOptimedia believes. Adspend in Ireland, Portugal and Spain fell by a total 45% between 2007 and 2013. Adspend in these markets recovered by 8.9% in 2014, however, and 7.3% in 2015, and the report forecasts an average growth of 6.7% a year to 2018. Other European markets that fell sharply during the crisis are also now growing at a rapid pace. In Croatia, forecasts show growth by 6.1% a year to 2018, in Denmark 7.3%, Hungary 5.2% and Romania 6.3%. Even Greece is expected to enjoy annual growth of 3.9%.
