Together with the increase in the volume of services, the average salary of employees in the advertising industry has also risen. However, the actual number of employees has decreased.
ITCOMMS, a PR agency, analyzed the data from the National Statistical Bureau for January-March 2023. According to the data, the volume of services in the field of "Advertising and Market Research" in the first quarter of 2023 reached 101 billion tenge, excluding the volume of services from the unobserved sector of the economy. This is a 75.65% increase compared to the same period last year.
A significant growth in the volume of services in advertising and market research occurred in the first quarter of 2022, from 225 million tenge to 58 billion tenge.
The majority of the services were provided by advertising agencies, amounting to 85.4 billion tenge. This is a 76.5% increase compared to January-March 2022. An additional 3.1 billion tenge was spent on advertising placement in the media, which is a 10.8% increase compared to the previous period.
The actual number of employees in the sector decreased by 12.9% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to January-March 2022, totaling 1,396 people. Of these, slightly more than half were women (52.9%).
The average monthly nominal salary in the advertising industry for the first quarter of 2023 was 326,670 tenge. This is a 29.6% increase compared to the same period in 2022. The real wage index compared to the corresponding period of the previous year was 108%.
What does this mean for the industry?
The continuous growth in the volume of services in the sector over the past few years indicates the increasing interest of local businesses in this type of activity. Here's what experts have to say about it:
"Firstly, thanks to digitalization, entrepreneurs are actively automating their business processes. This leads to cost optimization and resource reallocation, including human resources. Secondly, advertising activities are one of the most stressful. Emotional burnout can push professionals to leave employment in search of work-life balance. And, of course, the AI boom presents a new challenge for SMM specialists, designers, copywriters, and others,"
said Olesya Kolesnichenko, the director of PR Guide agency.
"In a situation where the volume of services in the sector is increasing while the number of employees is decreasing, one can assume that senior-level professionals have left to pursue their own projects. For example, they may have started providing consulting services or opened their own agencies. If this is indeed the case, then in my opinion, it's good news for the market. It indicates that advertising activities have ceased to be just a job and have become a business. People see development in this, and competition grows. And when there is competition, new ideas and meanings emerge. In such an environment, it is exciting to create and innovate,"
said Alexander Likhtman, the founder of ITCOMMS PR agency.
Author: Jeanna Skripal PR Manager at ITCOMMS Article on Bluescreen.kz