Ad market: Revenue stumble slight as print-digital shift hastens

by Marketing ON 17 September 2012

While the overall drop in advertising revenue for the first six months of the year was only slight, the gap between the winners and losers in the ad market continues to widen, from a drop of 26.0% for magazines to a gain of 29.8% for online.

Figures from the Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia (CEASA) show total media advertising revenue dropped by 0.4% year on year to $6,745,314,000 for the first six months of 2012.

The divided fortunes of the industry illustrate an accelerated shift from print to digital, with magazines the hardest hard hit, followed by classified directories, down 15.9%, and newspapers which shed 11.5%

Online notched the largest increase followed by subscription televisions, up 17.3% and outdoor advertising revenue, up 2.9%.

Overall the decline was slight compared to other periods of hard time, says CEO of CEASA, Bernard Holt. The media tracking body, which commenced its measurement of the industry in 1960, has seen declines of 8% in 2009, 6.9% in 2001, 6% in 1991 and 2% in 1990 in its 52 year history.

“From 1990 media advertising revenue began to show a boom and bust cycle, and the cycle was not uniform,” Holt says. “It also featured sharp ups and downs. In most cases recovery was strong.”

Other media to record an increase in advertising revenue included total radio, up 1.3%, suburban newspapers, up 0.8% and regional television up 0.6%. The fortunes of free to air metropolitan television dropped by 3.5% while metropolitan radio, down by 0.6%.

Online ad spend surpasses newspapers in Aus for first time

by Marketing ON 14 September 2012

According to the Commercial Economic Advisory Service Australia (CEASA), online advertising expenditure surpassed that of newspapers for the first time in the first half of this year.

The report details advertising spend in the six months to 30 June 2012, showing that $1.63 billion was spent on online advertising compared to $1.5 billion on newspapers.

Online spend was second only to free-to-air TV, which collected $1.65 billion in ad dollars.

The ability of online advertising spends to buck the trends saw it grow by 30% over the first half of 2011 at a time when the total Australian advertising market of $6.745 billion decreased by half a percent. That brings online’s market share to 24.2% in the period concerned, compared to 24.4% for free TV and 21.6% for newspapers. Last year online advertising’s share was 18.5%.

CEASA’s advertising spend data is sourced directly from main media providers.

Chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia, Paul Fisher, says that with these latest figures Australia comes a step closer to becoming only the fourth market worldwide where online attracts more spend than all other media, which he expects to happen next year.

“IAB and the broader industry are working hard to improve online audience and campaign measurement, develop and implement the infrastructure of standards, guidelines and best practice, offering more compelling ad formats online for brands. These factors will see online advertising continue to outpace the market and eventually TV advertising expenditure in 2013. This will make online the leading advertising medium in Australia, a status currently only achieved in the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands,” Fisher says.

Ad spend figures good for radio

by Marketing ON 17 September 2009

Joan Warner, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia, has indicated that the latest figures released by the Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia (CEASA) show radio ad spend is weathering the GFC better than other traditional media.

CEASA’s ‘Advertising Expenditure in Main Media’ report for the six months ending in June 2009, shows ad expenditure in Australia has fallen 8.5% compared to the same timeframe in 2008.

It also shows that total advertising expenditure (excluding classified directories) grew around 6%.

The CEASA report showed some bad news in terms of overall ad expenditure – radio (regional and metropolitan) fell about 7.4% to $449.7 million. In comparison, newspapers fell 18%, magazines fell 9.3%, television fell 10.7%, outdoor fell 13.4% and cinema was down 4.2%. Online grew 12% in the same time period.

Radio and online were the only media to gain share in total advertising expenditure.

Warner suggested that the switch on of digital radio over the past few months around Australia should help in attracting new advertising opportunities for radio in the future.

“These are tough times with ad expenditure down overall by a significant amount. The radio industry is working hard to promote its strengths,” Warner said.

Direct marketers told to lift their game

by Marketing ON 14 July 2009

Mark Buckman, CMO of the Commonwealth Bank, has taken aim at the direct marketing industry.

Buckman criticised the industry view that a 2% response rate was a great result, pointing out a recent Commonwealth Bank direct marketing campaign had enjoyed a 20% response rate. He said a 98% non-response rate was not good enough for the Commonwealth Bank and it shouldn’t be good enough for other clients.

According to the Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia, marketers spent approximately $3.2 billion on direct mail, catalogues and promotional letters in 2007. The Commonwealth Bank alone spends about $30 million annually on direct mail.

Buckman continued saying, “Most direct marketing is junk. It’s dumb because it’s lazy marketing, it’s void of data insights and has no clear targeting, no clear offer, and no real reason for customers to take those offers up because often it doesn’t reflect what the brand stands for.”

He also quoted statistics stating an average of only 2.8% of direct mail produces a result, meaning direct marketers send out 36 pieces of mail for every response. Buckman told the audience that if data and targeting aren’t embraced, many will not be sitting at ADMA 2013.

Agreeing with his sentiments, head of Euro RSCG, Paul Bennett said, There is quite a lot of inertia in clients and the current recession is highlighting the need to be more measurable. Lets face it, in an environment of plenty measurability was important but not crucial.”