Media agency bookings have begun 2026 on a cautious footing, with January ad spend back 6.5 per cent YOY, according to the latest Guideline SMI data.
For the financial year-to-date, total Australian ad spend is back 4.8 per cent from the same period last year, with outdoor (0.7 per cent), cinema (2.3 per cent) and digital ( down 1.2 per cent) the best performers.
Despite the overall decline, there were green shoots in January. Outdoor returned to growth (up 1.3 per cent) as billboards and retail outdoor sectors grew strongly, video streaming up 10.9 per cent, and cinema up 37 per cent YOY due to strong sales in The Housemaid and Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Although ‘Digital’ remains the market’s largest medium with 48 per cent of January ad spend its total bookings are so far back 7.2 per cent, although extra late programmatic bookings should improve that result.
Guideline SMI APAC managing director Jane Ractliffe said although the Australian market remained cautious , improving ad demand in New Zealand delivered a sign that our market is on the cusp of returning to growth.
“Our NZ data has shown similar monthly declines as we’ve been experiencing in Australia this past year, but our latest January data shows NZ ad spend was steady in January with total bookings back only 0.2 per cent. And many of the categories that we’ve seen in decline in Australia (such as Food/Produce/Dairy) grew their NZ ad spend strongly this month so we’re expecting similar trends to emerge here,” she said.
Both markets are also seeing huge revenue gains in the Streaming Video market, and in Australia it’s now the traditional TV networks leading the way.
During January, Australian viewers were tuning in to the Ashes on 7Plus and the Australian Open on 9Now.
“In Australia we’ve seen double -digit growth in Streaming revenues from the established streamers such as Nine, Foxtel and Southern Cross and the market is also being buoyed by newer entrants such as Amazon Prime. As a result Streaming has been the fastest -growing Digital sector in our market for a year,’’ added Ractcliffe.
Streamers were also large investors in media themselves in January , growing their own advertising budgets by 25 per cent YOY which in turn pushed total In Home Entertainment category ad spend up 20.9 per cent.
But the largest dollar increase in product category ad spend this month came from the largest category of Retail where a $3.2 million increase in ad spend was mostly due to higher spending by supermarkets and online retailers .
On the negative side there has been a large decline in travel ad spend (down 22.8 per cent YOY) and lower Government advertising ( down 9.5 per cent) continues to impede market growth.
