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GroupM Ireland reports 20% growth in advertising market in 2021 The Irish advertising market grew by 20% in 2021, according to GroupM Ireland’s ‘This Year, Next Year’ Report. The media investment company predicts growth of 9% in the Irish advertising market in 2022. This follows a decline of 6% in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. GroupM partly credits the growth in the Irish market to the country’s resilience and resourcefulness, which is enabling it to emerge from the pandemic in a position of relative strength.
Cinema advertising is expected to grow by nearly 90% in 2022, as studios release their backlog of films
This growth rate is closely aligned with GroupM’s projection for global advertising growth of 22.5% in 2021 and 9.7% in 2022, according to the company’s Global End of Year Forecast Report. The sector which saw the highest level of growth in advertising spend in Ireland in 2021 was the drinks industry (both alcoholic and soft drinks), which saw a significant growth rate of 80%. This was driven by a focus on the in-home trade for both alcoholic and soft drinks brands as well as a pivot to supporting non-alcoholic variants in response to tightened advertising guidelines. Other traditional high spend categories such as household services, finance and government, social, and political organisations retained similar market share by maintaining the high levels of advertising seen throughout 2020. In 2022, GroupM is expecting to see lower levels of growth, but continued consistency in the top four spending categories of: retail, household services, finance and government, social, and political. It expects the highest year-on-year shifts to come from the entertainment and media, travel and transport and possibly motors. At a rate of 23%, spending on digital advertising grew at a greater pace than the rest of the industry. It now accounts for 60% of Irish advertising spending, up from 58% last year. GroupM predicts this will continue to rise to 62% of market share in 2022. GroupM credits this growth to the continued expansion of the app ecosystem, increasing consumer adoption of e-commerce and the growing role of cross-border media marketplaces. Search advertising also outperformed the average growth rate for digital.
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Television advertising spend grew by 16% domestically in 2021 (compared to 11.7% globally), accounting for 18% of market share, while radio grew by 12%, accounting for 9% market share. Print titles temporarily halted previous declines, with newspaper advertising rebounding by 15% due to a strong digital-first bounce back from smaller scale, local advertisers. Newspapers accounted for 8% market share in 2021 and magazines accounted for 1%. Newspaper advertising is expected to fall by 8% in 2022 and will account for 7% market share next year according to the report. Outdoor advertising experienced growth of 19% in spending in 2021, in recovery from an exceptionally low base, and is expected to grow by a further 27% in 2022, outpacing the international growth rate for outdoor of 17.1% in 2021 and 6.4% in 2022. Outdoor is benefitting from new digital formats which allows for incremental sources of demand to emerge. Better targeting, the capacity for real-time and/or programmatic buying and an increasing number of locations for digital signage are all positive factors leading into 2022 and beyond. Cinema advertising only partially recovered this year, but is expected to grow by close to 90% in 2022, as studios release their extensive backlog of films and audiences’ pent up demand to re-engage with a perennially popular leisure activity is finally sated. While digital accounted for 60% of the advertising market over the past year, the report notes that many smaller advertisers will allocate all or nearly their entire budget to this format, while larger advertisers typically allocate a larger share of their budget to TV. In an analysis of GroupM’s own data, it was revealed that a large advertiser in Ireland typically allocated 40% of its budget to TV and 30% to digital in 2021. This trend was replicated across GroupM’s clients in the UK and Germany. The global advertising industry has expanded at a faster rate in 2021 than GroupM had previously anticipated, with indications that this will continue into 2022 and that Ireland’s domestic industry is participating fully in this this rapid growth.
Iconic Dublin sign illuminated again after 13 years
Ireland’s first ever animated neon sign was restored to its former glory last month for the first time in 13 years. The iconic McDowells Happy Ring House sign on Dublin’s O’Connell Street has been given a new lease Dublin Lord Mayor, Cllr of life thanks to a grant Alison Gilliland, at the official turning on of partially funded by Dublin the iconic ‘The Happy City Council. Ring House’ neon sign at It was created and McDowells Jewellers for erected in 1952 by sign the first time since 2008 experts Gaelite – and 69 years later, the firm was called back to restore it after it fell into disrepair in 2008. The restoration project began in September, involving the removal of existing neon tubing for testing to use as templates for replacement manufacturing, before sections of the letters and symbols where rust had caused damage, were re-soldered or replaced.
St Etchen’s National School wins €3,000 Avonmore Super Milk prize
Christmas came early for one Kinnegad school last month as the students of St. Etchen’s National School celebrated winning €3,000 after taking part in the Avonmore Super Milk Super Science Experiment competition. Now in its third year, the Avonmore Super Milk Super Science Experiment is an exciting initiative encouraging primary schools nationwide to engage in a STEM-based lesson, while learning about the importance of bone health. St. Etchen’s National School intends on using the cash prize to build a new play area, having recently undertaken a fundraising drive for a new play Teacher Sandra Champkin area at the with students, Sophia, Molly, Dominykas, Ava and Caedyn school. A special 3D build was carefully crafted with over 400 Jameson bottles individually lit and pixel mapped with the latest LED technology
Talon Ireland and Irish Distillers lit up Dublin with Jameson Christmas tree
IRELAND END-OF–YEAR FORECAST
DECEMBER 2021
GroupM Ireland predicts the Irish advertising market will grow by 9% in 2022
Talon Ireland, the specialists in innovative out of home (OOH) communications for brands, recently joined forces with Irish Distillers, Ireland’s leading supplier of spirits and wines, and its leading brand Jameson Whiskey to light up Dublin for the Christmas season. Working closely with media agency Spark Foundry, creative agency Nineyards and XL Media, the team devised a festive themed OOH installation, which saw the front of the well-known Barge Pub in Ranelagh transformed into a Jameson Christmas tree. ■
