The German association of commercial media companies, VAUNET, expects advertising revenue in audio and audio-visual media in 2022 to rise by around 4.2% to a total of €6.54 billion (up from €6.26 billion in 2021).
The television sector looks set to record a small increase in turnover of 1% to €4.38 billion while revenue in the radio sector will likely remain stable at around €707 million. Despite the recovery of the industry as a whole, turnover in TV advertising will still remain slightly below 2019, with advertising revenue in radio significantly below this benchmark.
The overall positive development is mainly driven by revenue in streaming services, with double-digit growth expected again this year. These figures were released today by VAUNET in its spring forecast for the development of the advertising market in 2022.
“People are spending more time than ever using audio-visual media. Accordingly, advertising in audio-visual media is also becoming increasingly important for advertisers. And it makes a hugely important contribution to restarting the economy after the crisis. This applies to radio and television advertising as well as – albeit at a lower level – to video and audio streaming advertising,” said Frank Giersberg, Managing Director at VAUNET.
In 2021, TV advertising enjoyed 8.2% growth in revenue, while radio advertising declined by 0.9%. Streaming advertising revenues soared by 29.2% for audio and 29.8% for video. In particular, the strong growth in streaming meant that in 2021, the second year of the pandemic, advertising revenues in audio-visual media as a whole exceeded the pre-crisis level, rising by 10.7% on the previous year to reach €6.28 billion.
According to VAUNET’s forecast, TV and video advertising revenues are expected to rise to a total of €5.74 billion in Germany in 2022 (2021: €5.49 billion). This equates to growth of some €250 million or 4.6% (2021: 12.1%). Of this, TV advertising is set to grow by around 1.0% (2021: +8.2%) to €4.38 billion (2021: €4.34 billion). TV advertising revenue is still slightly below the pre-crisis level of 2019 (€4.40 billion), though.
Regarding net advertising revenues from advertising in audio-visual streaming, VAUNET expects additional growth of around 18% in 2022 (2021: +29.8%), reaching around €1.35 billion (2021: €1.15 billion).
VAUNET expects advertising revenue in audio services to increase by €13 million or roughly 1.6% to €803 million in 2022 (2021: €791 million). For radio, VAUNET expects advertising in 2022 to remain stable, repeating the previous year’s level of around €707 million. This means that radio is still significantly below the pre-crisis level of 2019, when advertising revenue reached €784 million. For advertising in audio streaming, VAUNET predicts net advertising revenues to rise this year by around 15% (2021: +29.2%), reaching €97 million (2021: €84 million).
