C'est La Vie, France's Ad Market Poised For Tepid Growth

Despite domestic social and political turmoil in 2019, France’s ad economy will expand 4.3% to $12 billion, according to final year-end estimates from GroupM’s forecasting team.

“While this level of growth places France in the upper range of European markets advertising growth, it is only in line with the global average,” writes GroupM Business Intelligence Global President Brian Wieser, adding that while France continues to lag bigger European markets such as Germany and the U.K., the results are nonetheless “encouraging in view of the social situation that has characterized the country for the past 12 months with the yellow vest crisis. 

“The impact on consumption was not neutral, but advertisers did not significantly withdraw from their advertising investments. Looking back over the last 10 years, this is the third strongest performance after 2018 and 2010.”

Even so, GroupM notes France’s economic outlook “remains very uncertain,” and it projects its advertising marketplace expansion will slowdown, rising on 3.7% in 2020.

Wieser projects the tepid rate of advertising growth will continue “until 2023 before a slight recovery in 2024, linked to the Paris Olympic Games is lower than the global trends anticipated over the next five years.

“While the French advertising economy should grow by +15% between now and then, France will still be overtaken by India and Brazil and should likely be the world's eighth largest advertising market at that time.”

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