New figures from WARC (formerly known as the World Advertising Research Centre) shows us that the global economic recovery has accelerated, where we have seen Q1 2021 growth at 12.5% and Q2 2021 at 23.6%. 

Global advertising spend is on course for 12.6% growth this year to reach US $665bn, an upward trend from 6.7%. Further growth, of 8.2%, is forecast for 2022, by which time the global advertising market will be worth more than a staggering US $700bn. 

Growth in Q2/2021 was driven mostly by online ad formats, which together saw spend rise by over 31% versus the previous year. E-commerce (the subject of my last newsletter) at +59.5% and search at +50.6% were the star performers, although offline media is also faring quite well with newspapers gaining too, despite COVID accelerating a digital shift in marketing focus.

Advertising spend in print newspapers will rise by 4.8% this year, the first growth recorded in a decade. This makes the total at $29.6bn, before a small decline of 1.0% projected for 2022. There is indeed money still to be picked up “off the table” by media companies in the short/medium term at least re print advertising. 

This is something we will be picking up on in our second INMA Advertising Initiative Master Class, i.e. print and its relevance in 2022 and beyond. Details will be on the INMA Web site soon. Dates are February 17, 22, and 24. Diarise them now.

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