Half of China’s Ad Spending Will Go Toward the Internet This Year, GroupM Says
A report from GroupM shows just how fast China’s advertisers are moving their budgets into the digital space. Five years ago, the internet accounted for only 14.8% of the country’s total ad spend; this year it’s expected to take 49.7%.
China is well ahead of the global average on that front. WPP’s GroupM has forecast that 31% of worldwide ad budgets this year will go to online. Advertisers in China are taking cues from how quickly consumers have embraced the online world, especially mobile phones, for streaming videos and movies online, shopping from Alibaba’s e-commerce empire and using all-purpose app WeChat to communicate, book services and pay household bills.
GroupM’s report also said that despite concerns about economic slowdown, consumer confidence remains strong; it estimated overall ad spending in China up 7.8% in 2015 and said it would rise 9.3% in 2016, to $85.7 billion. (A GroupM report in December had a slightly lower growth prediction for this year, at 9.1%.)
