PETALING JAYA: Realising the talent crunch in the media and communications industry, the Media Specialists Association (MSA) is stepping up efforts to address this grave concern.
MSA president Chanchal Chakrabarty said apart from focusing on media measurement in the market, with the single video measurement and out-of-home measurement initiatives, MSA would also be working on multiple initiatives under an overarching theme of talent development for the industry.
He told StarBiz that talent crunch is one of the biggest “pain” points for the industry.
Chanchal, who is also the CEO of GroupM Malaysia, said given that talent is the biggest and the most critical asset for the media and communications industry, solving this issue is of extreme importance.
“We would be creating a sub-committee within MSA to develop multiple initiatives that could help develop a new talent pool for the industry as well as to make media and communications a lucrative career opportunity among the new breed of talents.
“MSA would also continue to work with other industry bodies like Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia and Advertising Standards Authority Malaysia towards promoting responsible communication in the industry,” he added.
Broadly speaking, the MSA’s main role is to further the interests of the marketing communications industry and more specifically the media agencies in Malaysia.
It is the representative body of all member media agencies of the country.
He also views 2022 as a good year for media and communications and attributes this to several economic and media growth drivers.
Consumer spending is coming back on track and posting good growth with household spending projected to grow by 5.1% this year, he said.
Chanchal said the festive seasons would see an increase in spending as people go on a shopping spree due to festive promotions.
“The relaxation of movement restrictions is set to spur domestic tourism and also benefit retailers by improving footfall to retail outlets,” he noted.
Retail Group Malaysia is projecting a 6% growth in retail sales for this year.
“The possibility of a general election in the second half of this year is expected to remove the political uncertainty that has been plaguing the country.
“This year is also a busy year for sports which has a potential to spur some marketing spends growth as well.
“These include the Thomas and Uber Cup, Vietnam SEA Games, the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the FIFA World Cup in November,” he added.
On the media side, the growth in digital platforms would be a boon to the media industry, he said.
He added that digital platforms saw a significant surge of more than 30% growth in 2021 and would continue to be a key growth driver in 2022.
Continuous growth of e-commerce, video platforms, gaming, TV, cinemas, digital out-of-home and radio bodes well for the media business, he said.
While the media and communications industry is poised for growth, Chanchal highlighted the challenges the industry could face in 2022.
He added there could be a supply chain crisis leading to cost escalation for manufacturers and this may have a negative impact on their advertising and marketing spends.
As households pay closer attention to surging prices, it could lead to a clear demarcation of needs versus wants which could have a direct impact on consumer spending and hence potential impact on advertising spends by clients, he said.