Dentsu Ad Spend Report 2024: Swiss advertising market optimistic

According to the report, global advertising investment will increase by 5% in 2024 to an expected net investment total of USD 754.4 billion by the end of the year. Everything points to a continuation of this growth. A closer look also shows that this reflects the improved investment prospects in the UK, Germany, the USA, Japan and France. However, the US presidential election, which is expected to account for around a third (USD 11 billion) of the additional advertising expenditure in 2024, will also give an additional boost to the development of global advertising expenditure.

Lots of growth in America

When looking at advertising growth in the strongest regions of the global market, the Americas stand out as the fastest growing market this year with growth of 5.9 %. At 4.2 %, growth in the Asia-Pacific region is above the figure of 3.7 % forecast for 2023, with China, the largest advertising market in this region, potentially growing by 4.8 %. India, one of the most dynamic markets in the region, is at 6.8%.

Situation in Switzerland to improve

In Switzerland, which faced a challenging year for advertising spend in 2023, the situation is expected to improve significantly in the current year, the report shows. Despite factors such as geopolitical tensions and the associated economic impact, Dentsu analysts expect advertising spend to grow by 1.8%, which could be the starting point for a recovery in the advertising market.

The forecast for rising advertising investment in Switzerland relates most strongly to digital media. They account for 59.6% of total advertising expenditure, thus maintaining their position as the number one advertising channel and are expected to grow by 4.0% in 2024. Print has suffered losses in advertising expenditure in recent years and is also recording a decline this time (newspapers: -4.7% / magazines: -2.6%).

Advertising expenditure for TV will also fall by -2.0%. By contrast, the trend for out-of-home (OOH) is more encouraging: the Dentsu experts expect growth of 3.0% here. In contrast, a slight decline in advertising spending of -0.7% is expected in the audio segment, which has also enjoyed rising figures in recent years. Cinema, which suffered the most in the coronavirus years alongside OOH, is still on an upward trend with forecast growth of 1.5%.

"Despite the current global geopolitical tensions and economic challenges, we are observing that the current growth forecasts are now developing more positively than initially assumed," comments Lara Jelinski, CEO of Dentsu Media Switzerland. "Although major political and sporting events are driving the development of advertising budgets for 2024, both globally and nationally, they cannot be viewed in isolation. The last advertising year ended with a weak performance. The growth of 1.8% that we see for this year in Switzerland must therefore be put into perspective. However, the trend is promising."

The semi-annual Dentsu Ad Spend Report is based on data from 56 markets in North and South America, Asia-Pacific and EMEA.