Two of the country’s biggest media agencies, GroupM and Madison, have projected double-digit advertising growth for calendar year 2023, coming at a time when the Indian economy has remained largely resilient amid global volatility.

On Wednesday, the Pitch Madison Report, which was released in Mumbai, said domestic advertising expenditure (adex) would grow 16 per cent in 2023, marginally ahead of GroupM’s estimate, which had projected a growth of 15.5 per cent for the current calendar year in its forecast released Tuesday. However, both forecasts maintain that India remains among the fastest-growing advertising markets in the world in 2023, despite the estimates being lower than 2022 growth rates. (See chart)

The total Indian adex, according to the Pitch Madison Report, will touch Rs 1.04 trillion, driven by digital advertising whose share in total domestic adex will stand at 41 per cent from 38 per cent in 2022. It will be the largest advertising category for the second year in a row, ahead of television, whose share will slip to 32 per cent in 2023 versus 34 per cent last year. Print advertising’s share will stand at 19 per cent in 2023 versus 21 per cent reported in 2022.

GroupM too has retained a buoyant forecast for digital advertising in 2023, saying it will constitute 56 per cent of total domestic adex this year, ahead of the 54 per cent share in 2022. TV and print advertising, on the other hand, will slip to levels of 30 per cent and 10 per cent each in terms of share in 2023 versus 31 per cent and 11 per cent each reported last year.