GroupM envisions optimistic growth in Singapore media spend

Total media spend in Singapore in 2008 is expected to reach an unprecedented high of $1.565 billion. This compared to 2007's forecast of $1.48 million marks an increase of 5.7%.

The forecasts were made in a report by Group M titled ‘This year, next year'.

Comparatively, global media investment is expected to rise by 6.8% to US$479 billion (S$676.25 billion) in 2008 as advertising spend gets a thrust from the Beijing Olympics, European soccer championships and the US Presidential elections.

Amongst the various media in Singapore, predictably traditional media will get the largest share from marketers' wallets. Budgets on newspaper ads have been steadily rising for two years keeping above the $600 million mark, with 2008 figures likely to hit a peak of $672 million. TV will hit $500 million, close to its all time high of $567 million clocked in 2004.

Dropping for the past few years since 2004's figure of $136 million, radio spend will continue its downward trend this year to $108 million. Contrastingly, the internet is likely to hold the most clout this year with an estimated 62.5% increase in marketing dollars although this is a drop from 2007's forecast of 106.9%. This translates to dollar figures of $55 and $34 million in 2008 and 2007 respectively.

Analysis and real figures from 2006 have also been released in this report. Even in a World Cup soccer year, which is expected to pull figures up, ad growth in Singapore was slower than that of the GDP. Pressure on domestic demand in the mortgage debt service has been cited as a main factor.

Other possible elements point to the expanding expatriate population which supported the move of ad money to mall, newspaper, online and outdoor ads which cost significantly less than TV. This loss in revenue for TV was further exacerbated as advertisers pulled out from terrestrial broadcast channels as demand for cable channels increased. Traditional driver categories such as telecommunications companies, financial institutions, retail and entertainment also cut back their spending.

With a population of around 4.49 million in 2006, 97% and 60% of Singapore was connected to mobile phones and internet respectively. Broadband penetration hit 52% of the population while cable reached 41%.