By Samra Muslim
The Internet and social media are changing advertising, marketing and public relations, and it is time that the marketing professionals in Pakistan put digital in its proper place and give it the appropriate role.
2012 year end industry estimates have claimed a 100% growth in digital advertising spend in Pakistan to over PKR1 billion – this is still a drop in the bucket given the overall industry numbers and potential.
The below infographic outlines the digital landscape in Pakistan – consolidating several studies that have recently been published in the market – including the Economic Survey for 2011-12 by the government of Pakistan; on which 2012-13 budget of the country is based.
This infographic provides several key figures for businesses and digital marketers to understand the digital diaspora in a statistical and concise form.
It is important to note that, Pakistan is still struggling with multiple issues like internet censorship, lack of 3G services or online payment solutions – millions of Pakistanis have learned to embrace digital platforms (via mobile & internet) for work, to socialize or keep themselves updated with the latest news.
The statistics, however, are based on data starting from 2010 to some more current and up to date numbers. Industry numbers and information in some areas – especially digital advertising and ecommerce are just not available and in those cases estimates or feedback from industry experts has been used. It is good enough for a quick understanding.
Author has over 10 years of experience in public relations, marketing and communications, social media, event management and brand activation in a diverse range of industries. Currently she’s working with M-holdings in Karachi as Project Manager Digital. She can be followed on Twitter and on her blog.
very informative, quite an effort….
Many thanks – i am glad you found it useful :)
The infographics are interesting but much of the text is barely readable or not readable at all. (See the section on Internet, for example.) In some cases, the type size is too small and in others background color causes difficulty.
Hi Muhammad – you can see it here for a clearer view: https://magic.piktochart.com/output/d82b93a0-914a-41db-a1c9-98477f3b750e
Thanks for sending a better image. Still the problem is there. Some text is too small to be easily read. Color background in some cases also makes it difficult. A more readable type size could improve the effectiveness of the great effort. I hope you will do much better the next time.
Awesome comparison/demonstration!
Having worked in Telco’s and subscriber bases in Pakistan, some of the facts have quite a delta from the actual, but takes a lot to put them together;