This archive report was first published on 25 June 2020.
Published on June 25, 2020, a report by GroupM, a unit of WPP, forecasts a 12% decline in the global advertising industry this year, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the pandemic's overall impact on economies is expected to be worse than the 2008 financial crisis, the advertising decline, excluding U.S. political advertising, is expected to be modest. This is because small businesses, which bore the brunt of the lockdowns, already accounted for a smaller portion of the advertising industry.
GroupM's global president of business intelligence, Brian Wieser, noted that many businesses are fighting to stay alive through e-commerce, which may lead to some advertising through this channel.
The hardest-hit parts of the industry are expected to be television advertising, which has been losing ground, and out-of-home (OOH) advertising, such as billboards, as people stay indoors. TV advertising is expected to decline by 17.6% this year, while OOH will drop by 25%, excluding political ads.
However, digital advertising is expected to decline by only 2.3% this year and will account for 52% of the advertising market, up from 48% last year. Advertisers have invested more in digital ads due to their lower cost and ease of campaign management.
A global ad market recovery is expected to begin next year with 8.2% growth, according to GroupM's projections.
