This is the right time to take your campaigns digital: Prasad Shejale

The recent IPA Bellwether report for the UK definitely gives good news for those who are working in the Digital media industry. Digital ad budgets see the biggest rise in almost ten years. In the IPA’s latest quarterly Bellwether survey for the second quarter, 32% of respondents said that they increased their internet marketing budgets, while 9% recorded a fall. This means that the overall net balance of 22.7%, which is increased from 16.9% in Q1 and is the highest level since the third quarter of 2007.

Although this is UK report, we see the same patterns in the trend across the globe and especially in India. There are multiple reasons that India will see a tremendous growth on digital spends.

The rare generic Macro parameters which are helping India as per a joint study between HBR and WEF India is at Break Out stage on the Digital Evolution Index (2017).  Thus, India falls in the “Break Out” category, implying that India is low-scoring in its current state of digitalization but is evolving rapidly. The high momentum of Break Out countries and their significant scope for growth would make them extremely attractive to the investors. Often held back because of comparatively weak infrastructure and poor institutional quality, the Break Out countries would do well to promote the development of better institutions that can help in cultivating and sustaining innovation. Break Out countries seem to have the immense capability to become the Stand Out countries in the future, with China, Malaysia, Bolivia, Kenya, and Russia leading the pack.

Image Source: Digital Evolution Index 2017, The Fletcher School at Tufts University and Mastercard

 

Let us look at some of the reasons for the increase in Digital spends.

 

  1. Internet penetration is growing

As per a recent survey done by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), India is expected to have more than 850 million online users by 2025. Reliance Jio 4G has triggered most of this growth by adding 100 million connections in just seven months. This will also affect the digital ad spends and is expected the increase the ad spends ten fold!

 

  1. Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly

A Recent study by BCG suggests that India is a fast growing country where the consumption expenditures are expected to reach $4 trillion by 2025. Rising affluence, country’s continuing and unique pattern of urbanisation and fundamental shifts in family structures are some of the key driving forces for the increasing consumption.

With the increase in the income levels, the way consumers spend on goods and services is shifting. However, the growth trajectories vary for different categories and are not necessarily same across all the categories. 

 

  1. Significant boost in online spending

With the growing digital penetration and the rising influence of digital medium, more and more consumers will go online to purchase things. A lot of rural consumers are also shifting to the online medium for making purchases now, with the growing digital penetration.

Also, a lot of consumers these days use a combination of online and offline medium for making purchase decisions.  As per the observations from the latest survey done by BCG, digitally influenced spending is presently about $45 billion to $50 billion a year, and this figure is expected to go up to $500 billion to $550 billion by 2025.

 

  1. Industries have started allocating more budgets on digital platforms

Digital media has been contributing considerably to the growth of the advertising industry in India. Also, companies have been spending an increasing amount of marketing budget on digital media considering the growing attraction of the consumers towards the digital medium. As per the latest Digital Advertising Report 2017 from the Dentsu Aegis Network, the share of digital media spends (currently 12%), is expected to double up to 24% by 2020.

Increase in consumer adoption of mobile phones as an important medium of communication combined with increased Internet usage and falling data prices are the key catalysts in taking the digital ads growth forward.

It is no myth that the digital industry will grow profoundly in the upcoming years and the digital space, as a medium, will become the most preferred medium for the consumers for their day-to-day activities and needs. All the latest research reports and surveys suggest the same story. The new age consumers rely heavily on the digital space for all their needs. It is high time you take the digital route for your campaigns to be at the top of your game and ensure a good ROI from your campaigns. Digital space will continue to grow, and it is here to stay. You don’t want to miss out on exploring this fast-growing space.

 

(Authored Article by Prasad Shejale, Co-founder and CEO of Logicserve Digital. He is a lover of all things digital. A data driven person, Prasad is always looking out for new tools and trends in the digital marketing space. An entrepreneur with over 20+ years of experience, Prasad has been instrumental in setting up digital agencies based out of UK and India and spearheading operations and converting the agencies into successfully running entities.)

Media
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment

More in Media