Dentsu Ad Spend Report: Asia Pacific defies global slowdown with strong forecast for 2025

Dentsu’s latest Ad Spend Report projects ad spend to grow 5.8% in 2025 across Asia Pacific region, surpassing both global GDP and ad spend projections. This marks a slight acceleration from the 5.4% growth rate seen in 2024, reinforcing APAC’s position as the global leader in ad investment, while EMEA and the Americas are expected to see slower growth.

This momentum is driven by APAC’s expanding digital landscape, with Southeast Asia emerging as a key growth driver. SEA is expected to outpace other parts of APAC, with ad spend growth forecasted at 6.8%, more than double the growth rate in 2024.

While India and China are expected to face slower growth in 2025 – 6.5% and 4.5% respectively – key markets such as Philippines and Malaysia (15.4% and 5.1% respectively) are projected to perform particularly well. Australia is positioned for a modest 3.8% increase in ad spend, benefiting from a digital-first market.

Prerna Mehrotra, Chief Client Officer & Practice President, Media, dentsu APAC, said: “Two engines of growth, the dynamism of China and India, and the unrelenting modernization 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. Brands that master the balance between automation and strategic oversight will be the ones to lead the next wave of innovation.”

The disruption of search and retail media will continue to rise, growing at a 10% CAGR through 2031, driven by e-commerce giants such as Tmall, Shopee, Lazada and Flipkart. India is experiencing an ad boom, with digital media ad spend set to grow by 20% in 2025, three times higher than the overall ad industry’s growth rate. In China, spending across the “Big 6” platforms – Tencent, ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba, Douyin/TikTok and Xiaohongshu – will grow by 6.7% year-over-year, with Douyin/TikTok alone seeing an 11% rise in ad investment. These platforms are at the forefront of AI-powered media buying, further cementing their dominance in the market.

Digital ad spend in Australia will see continued growth, with video ad spend projected to rise by 8.7% year-on-year, bolstered by key events such as the 2025 national elections.

Matt Farrington, President, Investment & 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. This is reflected through growing ad spends year-on-year, with Southeast Asia emerging a sub-regional powerhouse, outpacing other parts of the region.

“The greatest growth is coming through continued spend migration into digital and connected media, which now accounts for 70% of the total spend across Asia-Pacific.

“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.

“Additionally, brands are seeing more opportunity in retail media to unlock new, commerce-driven solutions. This is particularly prevalent in the largest and fastest growing markets such as India, China and Southeast Asia, where we continue to see a proliferation of retailers becoming ad networks in their own right.

“Australia is facing slower growth relative to its regional peers but is still positioned for a modest 3.7% increase in spend, driven by the accelerated digitisation of channels such as TV, OOH and audio,” added Farrington.

For a detailed look at the 2025 dentsu Ad Spend Report, click here.