Total digital advertising expenditure & breakdown in Malaysia 2019

How much is Malaysia's total digital adex in 2019? What is the breakdown by digital media like social media, search advertising etc? Read on to find out!

According to this report last year, Malaysia's digital advertising expenditure (adex) is expected to reach RM1.3 billion in 2018, overtaking the figures previously recorded by the print and television media.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said digital and mobile adex had made a phenomenal surge while newspaper and free television witnessed a slide.

By referring to an industry report, he said by the middle of 2019, digital media, newspaper and television (free-to-air and pay TV combined) would each command approximately 25% of adex.

Let's refer to another data perspective by Statista, on digital advertising spend in Malaysia. Do take note that this is algorithm-based calculation without in-depth analysis.

Below is the YoY forecast of Malaysia's digital spend by Statista:

• 2017: USD341 million (RM1.40 billion)
• 2018: USD432 million (RM1.77 billion)
• 2019: USD548 million (RM2.24 billion)
• 2020: USD692 million (RM2.83 billion)
• 2021: USD864 million (RM3.53 billion)
• 2022: USD1,059 million (RM4.33 billion)
• 2023: USD1,266 million (RM5.18 billion)

The 2018 figures by Statista (RM1.77 billion) is higher than RM1.3 billion reported earlier in this article. Statista forecasted digital ad spend in Malaysia will reach RM2.24 billion in 2019.

In fact, it has been forecasted at more than 20% YoY growth from 2017 all the way to 2023, representing a bright future for the digital marketing industry.

The report has also shown the breakdown of digital advertising by media. Let's drill down the data for 2019 below:

1. Social Media Advertising: USD312.6 million (RM1.28 billion)
2. Search Advertising: USD135.0 million (RM552 million)
3. Video Advertising: USD72.4 million (RM296 million)
4. Classifieds: USD28.1 million (RM115 million)

A point to note here that e-mail marketing, audio ads, influencer sponsorships and commission-based affiliate systems are not considered in the Statista report.