Spending on digital advertising in Hong Kong tipped to exceed traditional media campaigns’ share in a few years
Asia-Pacific digital advertising spending set to rise 22 per cent this year to US$69.38 billion
Digital advertising spending in Hong Kong is forecast to overtake expenditure on traditional media campaigns in the next few years, despite a lingering economic slowdown.
“I had previously predicted that the rapid shift of marketing budgets into more digital advertising platforms would happen by 2020. I was wrong because it will probably happen sooner,” Kevin Huang, the chief executive at Hong Kong digital advertising firm Pixels, said.
Citing data from an industry study published in February by the Hong Kong Advertisers Association and market measurement firm Nielsen, Huang said 72 per cent of advertisers in the city planned to increase their digital advertising spending this year.
Consumers in Asia spend more time on multiple screens throughout their day
“The industry expects digital to account for 41 per cent of all advertising budgets this year,” he said.
Total advertising spending in Hong Kong hit a record HK$49.9 billion last year, when leading industries increased their online and mobile campaigns.
“Consumers in Asia spend more time on multiple screens throughout their day,” Huang said. “The average consumer in the region spends about four hours each day watching videos on their smartphones, tablets, desktop and connected TV, which is more than the global average of three hours per day.”
Research firm eMarketer forecasts that digital advertising spending in the Asia-Pacific region will increase by 22 per cent this year to US$69.38 billion, up from an estimated US$56.84 billion last year.
Mainland China is the region’s biggest digital advertising market. It is projected to record US$39.34 billion in digital advertising spending this year, up from an estimated US$30.81 billion last year.