Australia’s consumer electronics (CE) marketers have decreased their advertising expenditure by 7.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, despite the increasing popularity and sophistication of electronic gadgets and cheaper prices, according to new data from Standard Media Index (SMI).

In the first quarter of 2017, advertising expenditure in the CE category fell by 7.7 per cent to $20.1 million, compared to the previous corresponding quarter last year. In the 2016 calendar year, the sector was also down 0.2 per cent to $123.79 million.

The data also suggests that the CE sector is turning to ‘traditional’ media for its ad spend investment at the expense of digital media.

The media sectors to benefit from additional CE ad spend during Q1 were newspapers, which jumped 105 per cent (although off a low base); cinema, which was up 39 per cent; and radio, which jumped more than 10,600 per cent.

Digital ad spend declined by 11 per cent in the quarter, while magazines plummeted 74.7 per cent and outdoor advertising was down 17.2 per cent.

SMI’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Jane Schulze, said: “The consumer electronics market is obviously testing different media options. For example, they’re using radio for the first time in a long time, have dramatically reduced their outdoor spend and even reduced digital spending.

“It is a matter of testing different media channels to find the most effective return on their advertising investment in what is an intensely competitive sector.

“However, our data shows that it’s not the gadgets, such as personal electronics devices, reducing digital spending, but the more established CE market such as TV manufacturers.”

Last year, Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) grew their digital ad spend by 16 per cent, while TV/DVD/PVR/gaming consoles/streaming devices products reduced their digital spend by 10.2 per cent.

Radio/DAB/sound entertainment contracted their digital ad spend by more than 79 per cent, while cameras/video recorders/products increased their digital spend by 189 per cent last year.

Within digital media channels, PEDs and TV/DVDs stepped up their Q1 2017 ad spend in content sites, such as quality news sites, to $1.7 million and $1.3 million respectively. PEDs also doubled their investment in programmatic advertising through exchanges to $1.9 million.