Professionals anticipate increased digital ad budget, internet penetration in 2022
By Zion Rufus
Nigeria’s advertising industry is geared up for the groundbreaking possibilities of 2022 as they anticipate a whopping increase in digital advertising budget coupled with an acceleration in digital penetration and innovation.
In his submission, Managing Director, Starcom Media Perspectives, Jude Odia is optimistic that this year, there will be growth in the market as well as “a proliferation of platforms especially micro sites and blogs”.
He noted: “I hope to see the budget shift to digital and more potential in our overall media spend. I also hope to see an exponential growth of content and that will be a drive for mobile and the kind of growth we also hope to see in the digital media space. Digital will fundamentally be the primary beneficiary of that growth because it will grow more at the expense of the traditional media.”
Fortunately, 2022 is ushering in positive expectations for the ad world as advertising across all digital channels have been projected to exceed 60% of global adspend for the first time this year, reaching 61.5% of total expenditure according to market reports from Publicis Groupe media agency, Zenith. WPP’s GroupM also predicted an additional 13.5% growth in 2022 as digital now makes up the lion’s share of advertising spending and is expected to account for 64.4% of total advertising this year, up from 60.5% in 2020.
BB Buzz CEO, Yomi Olaniwun said: “This year, the budget will shift more to digital for just one major reason, you can measure success, and you can measure failure, and you can equally measure spend. So i see more digital spend from brands this year also because 2023 election is coming and as from July most candidates will start pushing their campaign so there will be a lot of budget for digital this year.”
He continued: “2022 is a strategic year, especially if we also look at the fact that elections would be coming up next year which means there is going to be a lot of big spend for digital. There will be a lot more budget for digital advertising. But then again digital advertising will be crucial because it is a year where most brands have also realized you can actually measure results from digital advertising. And expectedly, there will be cuts from the media, outdoor, there will be cuts from traditional advertising, and there will be more for digital advertising.”
The steady growth of internet users globally has become an important factor fueling the growth of the online internet advertising market.
With marketers leveraging internet advertising to achieve their marketing goals, the rise of social media bloggers, growing trend of influencer marketing, growing demand for e-commerce and social commerce accelerated by the pandemic, and the continuous increase in penetration of internet across the globe has presented a great opportunity for internet advertising. Some of these channels include banners, remarketing, pay-per-call ads, pay-per-click ads, and pop-ups through e-newsletters and personalized email marketing, search engine optimization, social media ads, and online magazines.
“The future of advertising is bright; many things are changing and It is those that are digitally innovative that will survive,” said Kemi Fabusoro, Director/Executive Secretary, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria in a recent interview with MARKETING EDGE.
She pointed: “It will get to a time where it will be more about impressions on social media or search engine optimization plan, and less about how many spots you bought on TV or Radio. It is going to be how I can target my consumer better on e-commerce sites. It is better for every business to prepare well for this digital evolution. In developed markets they spend 50% of their budget on digital. In some places, they are spending more on digital and less on traditional media.”
Over the past decade, Internet proliferation has exploded. With a current worldwide estimated population of 7.8 billion, Broadband Search revealed that approximately 4.93 billion people have access to and use the internet frequently, and looking ahead, there will be about 6 billion Internet users this year (75 percent of the projected world population of 8 billion) according to statistics from Cybersecurity Ventures. The use of smartphones has grown rapidly and the way consumers interact with various brands or sellers has transformed, owing to the accessibility of high-speed internet on smartphones. This factor is expected to fuel the internet advertising market growth as it has become crucial for brands to understand consumers’ interests with the help of smartphone advertisements and to stimulate their decision to purchase.
Fabusoro continued: “At some point, Nigeria is going to catch up as the number of people that have digital enablement is growing and it will continue to increase. As such, any traditional agency that is holding on to his outdoor, TV spots, etc, very passionately, without getting competence and capability for digital evolution will be lagging behind.”
However on his part, Papyrus Digital Solutions Limited CEO, Richard Iweanoge believes that Nigeria is yet to explore digital advertising opportunities to its fullest potential.
“There are just so many ways you can slice and dice digital,” he said in an interview.
“But I don’t think we have reached a point where we are harnessing those potentials as much as we can,” he added.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.