Initiative predicts fresh growth of Romanian media market in 2018 driven by TV ad spending

Initiative estimates that the Romanian media market grew with 11 percent in 2017, while in 2018 it will grow by another 13 percent, according to the data estimated by the report Media Fact Book. This evolution surpasses the forecast made at the launch of the report in June when the media agency anticipated a 10 percent growth in 2017.

Therefore, the Romanian media market is expected to reach EUR 407 million this year, respectively EUR 459 million in 2018.

„The end of the year mostly confirms the estimations announced at the beginning of this summer, the media market registering a growth close to the one in 2016. We’ve seen an excellent year for TV, that continues to be the driver of the local media market. The growth rates in Romania are bigger than the ones estimated at a global level, that have been influenced by the instabilities in several key markets,” said Alexandra Olteanu, managing director, Initiative.

The investments in the TV advertising gained 12 percent, compared to 2016, up to EUR 268 million. The biggest growth rate is registered by the radio market, with 15 percent gain since 2016, to EUR 23 million. Digital continues its development, being estimated to reach the value of EUR 72 million, with 12 percent more than in 2016. Moreover, it was a good year for the OOH market that reaches EUR 29 million in 2017, with 5 percent more than in 2016. In contrast, the print advertising continues its negative path, being the only channel that drops this year, with 5 percent compared to 2016, reaching EUR 13.5 million.

For 2018, the agency Initiative estimates new increases for TV (+15 percent, up to EUR 309 million), online (+13 percent, up to EUR 82 million), radio (+10 percent, up to EUR 26 million) and OOH (+5 percent, up to EUR 31 million), while the print will continue to drop by almost 5 percent.

When it comes to the market margins of those channels, depending on the net advertising revenue estimated for 2018, TV will be at 67 percent (vs. 66 percent in 2017), digital – 18 percent, OOH – 7 percent, radio – 6 percent, and print – 2 percent.

At a global level, the uncertainty determined by the political and economic events in many important markets (Brexit, the new USA presidency, the elections in Germany and France) brought more pragmatism in the estimates regarding the evolution of the media market. Therefore, according to MAGNA’s predictions, company part of the IPG MediaBrands group, from which Initiative is a part of, the net advertising investments grew this year with 4.1 percent and will continue to grow by 5.2 percent in 2018.

The online and the TV continue to dominate the global media market, with margins of 41 percent, respectively 35 percent in 2017. In 2018, TV will drop at a margin of 34 percent, while the digital will grow at 44 percent. The growth rate is more accelerated for digital (+13.4 percent), followed by OOH (+3 percent) and TV (+2.5 percent), while falls are also estimated for radio (-1.8 percent) and print (-10 percent).

Media Fact Book is the only analysis report of the Romanian media and advertising market, an annual guide created by the media agency Initiative, starting 1997. The full study can be found at www.mediafactbook.ro.