Blame the good news on increased TV spend, and radio as well: Global advertising rose 8.8% percent YOY in Q1 to total $118 billion based on published rate cards, as advertisers spent more on television and continued to invest in booming consumer Asian and Latin American markets. Television advertising rose 11.9% YOY, and radio 8.5%. Television increased its share among radio, magazines, and newspapers from 63.5% to 65.3% in both developed and many emerging economies.
Also according to the new Nielsen Global AdView Pulse report, advertising in the US rose 5.9% to reach nearly $27 billion in Q1 with stable increases for TV, radio and magazines; however, newspaper advertising dropped by more than 10% in another blow to the domestic newsprint industry. Newspaper advertising also declined -1.6% in Western Europe in Q1.
“With $6.50 of every ten dollars being spent on television, it’s clear that TV remains the most important and cost effective advertising medium for companies looking to reach new consumers, especially in booming emerging markets,” said Randall Beard, Global Head of Advertiser Solutions for Nielsen. “In fact, according to two Nielsen reports released last month, women globally said they preferred to find out information on new products and services via television more than any other medium, and the Q1 Nielsen Cross-Platform Report showed that Americans are watching more TV than ever before.”
Emerging regions of Asia-Pacific (+12.4%) and Latin America (+11%) drove global ad growth in Q1, followed by Middle East/Africa which still increased 10.4% despite a 51.3% decline in Egypt’s ad revenue as most companies temporarily halted advertising during the country’s social and political upheaval. Western Europe posted the lowest growth rate of all global regions in Q1 of 2.9% as the region’s divergent economic performance sent ad spend in Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain into negative territory – in contrast to double-digit growth in Europe’s more robust markets of Turkey (+12.9%), France (11.6%), and Norway (+10.2%).
Argentina (+37%) and South Africa (+34.8%) posted the highest year-on-year gains, while other emerging markets of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Saudi Arabia had double-digit gains in Q1.
RBR-TVBR observation: Yes, internet advertising is still increasing, but cable and niche television networks are still growing rapidly and getting new carriage in emerging markets at a breakneck pace. As digital and fiber-optic cable and satellite distribution increases globally, so does the number of networks they can carry. Expect this trend to continue alongside the growth of mobile entertainment and that segment’s ad dollars.
