Spending on advertising in Hong Kong is expected to increase by 8.2 per cent this year compared with a 4.2 per cent worldwide growth, according to a report by Zenith Media.
The media-buying operation for Saatchi & Saatchi and Bates Advertising forecast domestic advertising spending would rise to HK$22.5 billion from HK$20.8 billion last year. Growth last year was 2 per cent.
Worldwide advertising spending is forecast to rise from US$291.4 billion last year to US$303.8 billion this year, according to Zenith's Advertising Expenditure Forecasts.
Antony Young, Zenith Media chief executive for Asia, said the growth forecast for Hong Kong was due to increasing confidence in the region and a shift in advertising revenue from packaged goods companies to telecommunications, financial services, property and information technology advertisers.
He said advertisers were now expecting more for their money and agencies were increasingly working more to fees than commissions.
'We expect advertising revenue will continue to grow as consumers have an appetite for more choice. We are seeing increasing growth in new cable television stations, we have a new newspaper [the Sun ]; it hasn't stunted consumers' appetite for growth. They still want more and a number of players are coming into the market to exploit that.' Mainland advertising spending would continue its strong growth, increasing 19 per cent to 40.1 billion yuan (about HK$37.4 billion), according to Zenith.
