APAC ad spend growth pegged at 5.8%, buoyed by SEA

APAC will remain a global leader in ad investment across 2025, with ad spend projected to grow at 5.8%, an increase from 5.4% in 2024 according to Dentsu’s recently launched APAC Ad Spends Forecast. 

The growth in ad spend in the region is being driven by:

• Southeast Asia which is expected to outpace other markets like India, China, and Australia, growing at 6.8%. Double-digit growth at 15.4% is expected from the Philippines.
• Digital as a category accounting for 70% of spend, and the growth of programmatic at 24% surpassing global trends.
• Retail media across APAC is poised for 10% CAGR through 2031, led not just by global players like Amazon but regional and local ecommerce giants.
• A rapid acceleration in spending on platforms like paid social, video, and AI driven ad placements in India where digital is growing at 20% more than three times higher than the overall ad industry.
• China’s digital platforms accounting for a huge share of ad budgets with Tencent, ByteDance and Alibaba set to drive 6.7% growth, and Douyin/TikTok at 11%.

Prerna Mehrotra, chief client officer and practice president, media, Dentsu APAC said, “Two engines of growth, the dynamism of China and India, and the unrelenting modernisation of Southeast Asia, are driving the region’s robust advertising investment. Amidst diverse market development profiles—one constant stands true: digital dominance. As it barrels towards digital maturity, the APAC region will shape the momentum of connected commerce, retail media and AI-powered programmatic."

The dawn of the algorithmic era

Digital ad spend growth ($33 billion) in 2025 is expected to account for a lion’s share of total ad spend growth ($34 billion). The report forecasts that by 2027, 79% of ad spend will be algorithmically driven—the number stood at 59.5% in 2024.

In APAC, digital ad spend growth at 9.3% is outpacing global digital ad spend (7.2%). Programmatic buying is playing a key role in the migration to digital and is expected to grow at 24% in 2025, more than double the global average. The modernisation of traditional media in China and India will see programmatic buying grow by 25% and 21% in these markets.

Retail media networks are coming into their own across APAC and expected to grow by 10% CAGR through 2031. This is on the back of ecommerce players such as Tmall (China); Grab, Lazada, and Shopee (Southeast Asia); and Amazon and Flipkart (India); as well as retail media networks in mature markets such as Australia and Japan.

Matt Farrington, president, investment and trading, Dentsu APAC, said, “We are seeing a rapid transformation of Asia-Pacific's advertising landscape and a shift in the platforms advertisers are choosing to invest in. Brands are increasingly turning to mega-app environments—think Douyin/TikTok, Xiahongshu and the Meta family of apps—that cater for all moments of the customer journey and which are completely reshaping how customer discover, search and purchase.”

Television is operating at two speeds across the region

In 2024, the global TV market experienced a modest growth of 1.6% after a decline in 2023. However, the growth outlook for 2025 is more subdued at just 0.6%. This growth is entirely driven by non-linear TV, as traditional linear TV continues to decline due to the shift of advertising dollars to digitally-enabled TV.

In APAC, linear television is expected to see a significant decline with a 2.2% drop in 2025 compared to 2024. This decline is anticipated to accelerate into 2026. While local elections in key markets like Australia may have give the medium a temporary boost, the structural challenges facing traditional TV remain. Investment is increasingly moving towards connected, digital TV streaming.

However, while mature markets such as India, Australia, Japan, and China have robust connected TV marketplaces, with traditional broadcasters offering BVOD (Broadcaster Video On Demand) services, in Southeast Asia (SEA), similar broadcasters have been slower to develop digital platforms and connect this inventory to the programmatic marketplace.

Connected TV platforms are expected to grow by 9.5%, offsetting declines in traditional revenues. However, many connected TV viewings are not monetised or have significantly lower advertising costs. The traditional TV ad market remains about ten times larger than the connected ad market, so the double-digit declines in traditional TV will have a deflationary effect on the total TV market.

The increasing popularity of short-form viewing, especially on mobile devices and social platforms, is drawing viewers away from long-form content. This trend presents challenges for broadcasters trying to recapture lost audiences and for marketers who must navigate a more fragmented video landscape.