MUMBAI: The year 2014 is expected to be one of the best years of recent times for media advertising, including for television.

Pitch Madison Media’s advertising outlook for 2014 estimates media advertising spends in 2014 to grow 16.8 per cent to  Rs 37,216 crore from Rs 31,877 crore in 2013, with the biggest contribution of Rs 5,000 crore to this growth coming from elections to the Lok Sabha and to assemblies of four major states including Maharashtra.

Advertising spends on television are expected to grow well because of increased penetration of digitisation, as ad rates increase because of restricted supply with the enforcement of the 12 minute per hour cap on advertisements and with many new channel launches once the licences are issues after the Lok Sabha elections.

The advertising spends on television in 2014 are expected to grow by a robust 15 per cent in 2014 to Rs 14,282 crore from Rs 12,419 crore in 2013. The growth in advertising spend on television was 8.2 per cent against the projected 6 per cent.

The advertising spend outlook for 2014 contrasts that of 2013, when the watchword was caution. The prediction for growth of media advertising in 2013 was 7.4 per cent but the actual growth turned out to be higher at 11.1 per cent.

On television, the completion of digitisation in the top 42 cities in 2013 led to increased spending on niche channels, SD and HD channels and also local advertising options due to split runs across channels.

According to the Pitch Madison advertising outlook, the proliferation of channels from existing bouquets will increase inventory availability at higher rates.

Television’s share in the total ad spend in 2014 is projected to fall to 38.4 per cent from 39 per cent in 2013. Television’s share in the advertising pie was 42.1 per cent in 2011 and 40 per cent in 2012.

Though the growth in advertising spends on television seems to be healthy enough for the TV industry, increasing popularity of the internet is likely to cut down the share of television in total advertising spends.

In 2013, out of 15 categories of advertisers, advertising spends by seven of them showed a dip implying that advertisers are losing interest in television-based advertisements.

Media, retail, alcoholic beverages and corporate have registered a negative growth of advertising spends on television in 2013 and only fast moving consumer goods emerged as the driver of growth for advertising on television.

Print has shown immense promise and in 2014, regional dailies are expected to continue their onward march and grow at a faster rate at the expense of English dailies. In 2014, advertising in print is expected to grow by 17 per cent to Rs 15,405 crore. In 2013, print advertising spend had grown by 10 per cent and in 2012 by only 4.0 per cent.

Radio is expected to grow by another 15 per cent. Consolidation within radio will take place due to the expected phase III auction rollout. Digital will continue to grow stronger at 29.5 per cent, outdoor medium is set to grow  by 8.2 per cent and cinema by 7.2 per cent.

The outlook said it was time for the medium to reinvent itself for the advertiser.

The digital medium will pull in a total of Rs 3,950 crore in 2014, which is Rs 900 crore more than Rs 3,050 crore in 2013. The growth in advertising spends on the digitial medium has however subsided from around 50 per cent from 2009 till 2012. In 2013, the growth on digital dropped to 32.4 per cent.

The digital medium’s share in the total advertising pie will rise to 10.6 per cent from 9.6 per cent in 2013, 8 per cent in 2012 and 5.6 per cent in 2011.

Due to the economic slowdown, marketers have scrutinised each and every penny spent and internet being a return on investment medium, it is becoming the preferred choice for them. The growth in online advertising is expected from FMCG, automobile and banking sectors.

For radio, the growth in advertising spends in 2013 was 17.96 per cent against the projected 4 per cent. Looking at the growing faith of advertisers in this medium, the outlook projects 15.04 per cent growth in advertising on radio in 2014, with the total advertising spends adding up to Rs 1,262 crore against Rs 1,097 crore in 2013.