Australia’s media agency market remains in positive territory over the calendar year, but has suffered further declines in October as the key Government, Food and Communications categories reported significant falls in ad spend.
While total calendar year ad spend is now 0.2 per cent higher, the total for October was back 14.7 per cent, and as a result, all major media are reporting lower bookings this month.
Guideline SMI APAC managing director Jane Ractliffe said the October results confirmed the ad market remains extremely cautious, although she expects the level of decline to reduce with further late Digital bookings.
“This month we can clearly see lower ad demand being concentrated among a few key categories, with the size of their declines pulling the broader market lower,’’ she said.
“Indeed, 90 per cent of this month’s total decline has come from only ten categories, representing less than a quarter of all parent product categories for which SMI reports ad spend.
“But as the market is so cautious, we are expecting the size of the total decline to reduce slightly in the coming weeks, given the level of late bookings now being seen.’’
Fuelling the decline is the Food, Produce & Dairy category, where ad spend fell 29.5 per cent YOY in October to report the largest category fall in Australia. Similarly, the category also reported a 16 per cent fall in New Zealand ad spend this month to record the second largest decline of any NZ product category .
Government ad spend also continues to tumble, back 31.2 per cent in Australia this month to now be back 32.4 per cent this financial year. But a 24 per cent FYTD decline in Food, Produce & Dairy category remains the largest fall over that period in dollar terms, removing $48 million from the ad market.
On the positive side, Insurance ad spend continues to grow and soared by 21 per cent in October to become the second largest category this month . It has now grown bookings by 14 per cent this financial year.
Although all major media categories declined in October, several sectors still delivered growth. For example, streaming sites recorded a 1.9 per cent increase in ad revenue for the month. Outdoor media performed the strongest among the major channels, with October bookings down only 5.9 per cent year-on-year. Across the calendar year, overall ad demand remains slightly positive at +0.2 per cent, led by Outdoor bookings up 8.9 per cent. Other areas also saw gains, including Digital ad spend (+3.6 per cent), Magazines (+0.4 per cent), and Cinema (+4.8 per cent).
