Mumbrella Asia, the marketing and trade publication is closing down its office and operations in Singapore due to its failure in generating profit during the past six and half years of operations in Singapore.  The closure was announced in a letter by the marketing trade publication’s founder and content director Tim Burrowes that was published on Mumbrella Asia’s website.

In his letter, Burrowes revealed that the decision was made after the Singapore office failed to achieve all three major sources of revenue around advertising, ticket sales and sponsorship, which he claimed the publication had managed to achieve in Australia.

Burrowes also suggested that publication failed to attract advertising because of its unique and impartial reporting. The publication had  rubbed the feathers of the marketing industry and Singapore government the wrong way. Mumbrella Asia's general manager Dean Carroll was offered a position in its Australia office, but turned it down because of family reasons, while a position for editor Ravi Balakrishnan in Australia is being discussed.

Singapore is the weakest market when it comes to growth in ad revenue in an otherwise flourishing Asia-Pacific, according to the Magna Advertising Forecast, put together by IPG Mediabrands. Through 2019, ad revenue declined by 3.2% in Singapore bringing the total advertising economy to S$2.1 billion or US$1.6 billion.The slump in Singapore marked the fourth consecutive year of decline and the prognosis for 2020 is not much better. Magna estimates a further decline of 2.2%.

Outlining the reasons for shrinking ad revenues, the Magna report identified the decline of television with revenues dropping by 12%. The report said: “The TV landscape is dominated by MediaCorp, and the vendor had to cut its airtime prices significantly to meet a dwindling demand.