Keep a watch on these top ad spend trends for 2021

• According to exclusive Dentsu statistics from all 59 industry sectors, global advertising spend is expected to increase by 5.8% in 2021, reaching a total of US$579 billion. This addresses a significant return to advertising and marketing expenditure but insufficient to recover the 8.8% drop reported between 2010 and 2020.

• In 2021, all regions are expected to get positive growth, with Western Europe (7.5 %), Asia-Pacific (5.9%), and North America (4.0 %) leading the way.

• Following substantial declines in 2020, India (10.8 %), the United Kingdom (10.4 %), and France are expected to be the fastest-growing markets in 2021. (8.9 %). The top five markets in 2021 may be the United States, Germany, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom, based on global ad spend.

• On a like-for-like basis, a Q2 rebuilding is expected, with ad spend increasing by 2%, 13%, 4%, and 3% across quarters instead of 2020, pondering the dramatic influence of lockdowns.

• In 2021, digital will account for half of all ad spending, propelling overall growth at a rate of 10.1 %. The key sources of the digital boom are social (18.3 %), search (11.0 %), and video (10.8 %).

• In 2021, traditional TV ad spending is expected to grow by 1.7 % to US$169 billion, representing a 30 % increase over current levels. The Tokyo Olympics & Paralympics and the UEFA European Football Championships are likely to be major drivers of TV commercial spending.

• Development in 2021 is predicted to pave the way for a return to pre-pandemic expenditure levels in 2022, with expenditure expected to reach US$619 billion, up from US$600 billion in 2019.

Global Ad Spend Forecasts 2021; Source: Dentsu

Recommendations

The year 2021 brings with it a plethora of fantastic prospects for brands to be ahead of the curve and begin correspondences in a substantially less cluttered media environment.

The pandemic has reawakened customers’ steadfastness, and many will stick with new decisions made in 2020. Price becomes a more important angle in buying decisions, as it does in other slumps. On the other hand, trust is a critical perspective, and cultivating this pursuing through information will aid brand relationships in the long run.

Connected TV will become a turning point in scale and reach, ascending as a powerful instrument for reaching a clear conclusion between acknowledgement and attribution.