Around The World, More Ad Dollars Continue Going Online

October 19, 2012

Global advertising spending rose 2.7% year-over-year in the first half of this year (H1), and once again, online advertising revenues grew more quickly than any other medium, details Nielsen in its Global AdView Pulse report. Advertisers upped their investments online by 7.2%, with the developing markets of the Middle East and Africa (+30.3%) and Latin America (+20.6%) in particular pouring more money into online advertising. The online ad spend figures are based solely on display ads. These revenues were strong (+11.2%) even in Europe, which saw an overall decrease in year-over-year advertising spend for H1.

In the US, online ad revenues grew by 14% year-over-year in H1 to reach a new peak of $17 billion, according to the latest revenue report from the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Display-related advertising saw more muted growth, though, of 4%.

Radio, Cinema, Outdoor Also See Solid Gains

Advertisers worldwide aren’t just increasing their spending on display ads at the exclusion of other media, though. Radio saw a strong first half, up 6.6% year-over-year, led by increases in the Middle East and Africa (24.8%) and Latin America (12.7%).

Cinema was the next-fastest growing medium, up 5.9% on a global basis. Cinema revenues, though, were decidedly mixed on a regional basis. For example, advertisers in the Middle East and Africa (-19.1%) and Latin America (-21.1%) pulled back, but in the Asia-Pacific, investment surged by 40.2%, a faster rate than any other medium in that region. A PwC report covering Q1 found a similar trend, with cinema ad revenues up 27.1% in the Asia-Pacific region, outpacing all other media.

Outdoor advertising also posted a healthy increase in H1, rising 4.7% year-over-year, buoyed by soaring spend in the Middle East and Africa (+38.8%) and a big jump in the Asia-Pacific (+16.6%).

TV’s Growth More Muted; Still Positive

While TV ad revenues grew at a more modest rate than some of the other media, they still posted a healthy increase of 3.1% and accounted for a dominant 61% of global spend. TV spending rose by 4% in North America (likely on the back of political advertising in the US), and by 30.1% in the Middle East and Africa. By contrast, TV ad spending contracted in Europe by 2.2%.

Mixed Results for Print

The Nielsen study finds that newspaper advertising spend was up by 1.6% in H1, with growth in Latin America (+5.3%), the Middle East and Africa (+4.7%), Asia-Pacific (+2.9%) and North America (0.8%) offsetting a 5.2% decline in spending in Europe.

The news was not as good for magazine ad revenues, though, as they dropped by an average of 1.3% around the world. That result was due to declining investments in North America (-3.9%) and Europe (-5.9%), with increases in Asia-Pacific (6.5%) and Latin America (5%) not enough to drag the average back into positive territory.

About the Data: The Nielsen Global AdView Pulse measures ad spending for TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, cinema, and internet display advertising. Some markets may exclude select media due to data availability.

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