Zenith forecasts that India will be the fastest-growing market for telecoms advertising between 2020 and 2023 by some distance, with 11 per cent annual growth. According to eMarketer, only 31 per cent of the population currently has a smartphone, but thanks to the launch of low-price handsets such as the JioPhone, this proportion is rising rapidly.
“The telecom sector in India in 2021 is anticipating a robust growth on the basis of an increase in tariff pricing, demand for data, growing number of mobile users and hopefully the launch of 5G in the last quarter. This will lead to a substantial increase in media investments by the key players especially on Television & Digital” said COO, Zenith India, Jai Lala.
Russia is another market with relatively low (57 per cent) but fast-growing smartphone penetration, and here telecoms adspend is forecast to rise rapidly too, by 8 per cent a year.
Most of the other markets in this report are forecast to grow by between 3 per cent and 6 per cent a year to 2023. The exception will be France, not because of any inherent weakness in demand, but unlike those in most markets, French telecoms brands actually increased spending in 2020 – by 6 per cent – in response to the extra demand for data. The basis of comparison with 2023 is therefore considerably tougher.
“The rollout of 5G services will allow mobile operators to supply bundled voice, data and entertainment services to the home and compete directly with landline broadband,” said Jonathan Barnard, head of forecast, Zenith. “This will spur greater competition to put together the most attractive services at the best prices and help stimulate a sustained recovery in telecoms adspend to at least 2023.”
(The 12 markets included in this report are Australia, Canada, China,France, Germany, India, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US)
