Digital Advertising Driving Malaysia’s Adex Growth As Traditional Media Declines

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- Growth in Malaysia’s advertising expenditure (adex) continues to be driven almost entirely by digital platforms, while traditional media segments continue to decline, according to Kenanga Research.

In a note today, it said advertisers in Malaysia continue to gravitate toward digital channels, driven by rising social media engagement and growing preference for programmatic, data-driven ad buying across search engine platforms.

“As a result, legacy media continues to cede market share, a trend we do not expect to reverse anytime soon,” it said. 

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The research house said while Magna Global, an international media investment and intelligence company, expects Malaysia’s total adex to grow 6.4 per cent year-on-year in 2025, the growth is concentrated entirely in digital formats, notably social media and search.

“Ongoing declines in television, print, and radio mean that headline industry growth does not translate into recovery for traditional media players,” it said. 

Kenanga Research noted that digital advertising accounted for about 77 per cent of total Malaysian adex in 2024, led by social media (41 per cent), search engines (24 per cent) and other digital channels (12 per cent), underscoring a decisive shift in advertiser behaviour.

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“Magna Global forecasts digital media’s share of total adex to rise to 85 per cent by 2029, and television’s share to narrow to five per cent,” it said, adding that this reflects digital media’s superior reach, engagement and targeting precision.

“Moreover, artificial intelligence-driven programmatic tools and real-time analytics further enhance campaign optimisation and return on investment, reinforcing digital media’s structural advantage over traditional media’s broad but largely passive reach,” Kenanga Research said.

The research house also noted that legacy media remain unable to penetrate digital advertising, with traditional media operators in Malaysia continuing to have a relatively small footprint in the digital adex space.

As such, it reiterated its ‘underweight’ rating on the media sector, citing intensifying competition from digital players and persistent cost drag from legacy infrastructure.

--BERNAMA