Brazil, Mexico Drive Significant Ad Spend Growth in Latin America

 

http://www.emarketer.com/Articles/Print.aspx?R=1009983

Jun 19, 2013

Digital will account for 11.1% of total media ad spend in the region

Total media ad spending in Latin America is expected to reach $36.97 billion in 2013, making it the region with the third-smallest outlays worldwide in that category. But it will register the second-fastest regional growth this year, expanding at a 7.5% rate, trailing only Eastern Europe, according to eMarketer estimates.

The new eMarketer forecast for Latin America has been adjusted to reflect a slightly lower gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for the region this year, as well as inflation and currency exchange fluctuations in some of its largest economies.

Argentina is expected to experience a 6.7% drop in dollars spent on total media advertising, as inflation and exchange rates erode gains in a struggling industry that sold a lower volume of ads in 2012.

Brazil and Mexico will lead Latin America for total ad expenditures, with spending reaching $20.21 billion and $4.58 billion, respectively, this year, according to eMarketer. Brazil, however, will be the undisputed engine throughout the forecast period. Hosting a flurry of world-class sports events starting this month and through mid-2016, ad spending growth in Brazil is expected to outpace every other country. By 2017, Brazil’s share of regional total ad spending will reach 56.8%.

Meanwhile, eMarketer estimates that advertising activity outside the top three economies in the region will counter the losses expected in Argentina this year and will lift the share of ad spending by other countries in Latin America to 22.6%.

Digital ad spending growth in Latin America will be even faster, clocking a 21.5% expansion to reach $4.11 billion in 2013 and an 11.1% share of total media ad spending. The category will go on to register double-digit growth through 2017 when it will reach $8.27 billion, according to eMarketer estimates.

Reflecting Mexico’s smaller base spending level and the greater appetite for digital media among advertisers there, digital ad spending in the country will grow by 32.1%, the fastest rate in the region in 2013; digital ad spending in Mexico will keep rising faster than any other country in Latin America throughout the forecast period. Growing at such a heated pace, Mexico’s share of digital ad spending in Latin America will reach 18.5% by 2017, more than 3 percentage points higher than last year.

Though growing at a slower pace due to the sheer size of the market, digital ad spending in Brazil will reach $4.89 billion by 2017, to command 59.1% of total digital spend in Latin America.

As digital media adoption gains speed in countries other than the top three economies in the region, eMarketer predicts the share of digital ad spending dollars will tilt the balance more toward the rest of Latin America, a group of countries that will see their share of the category rise to 17.5%, or $1.45 billion, by 2017.