Digital advertising spend has continued its inexorable climb reflecting increasing consumer consumption of digital formats, reaching 48.6 per cent of all advertising spend for the calendar year 2016, up from 42.5 per cent in 2015, according to the 2016 Report from CEASA (Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia). 

The CEASA report is the only industry report to capture ad revenue from all major paid media channels, using authorised data sources from industry bodies including ThinkTV, Outdoor Media Association, IAB Australia and Commercial Radio Australia; as well as data from all agency groups. 

Gai Le Roy, research director at IAB Australia commented:  “As the stakes increase it is important that cools head prevail and we rely on independent data from organisations such as the CEASA for media planning decisions rather than from incomplete sources. To understand the whole media market we must have data on direct advertiser spend and not just selected agency data. Without this we are missing almost all SME advertising spend as well as that of the larger advertisers that are taking more of their buying and planning in-house.”

Traditional FTA TV spend dropped from 24 per cent to 21.6 per cent of total ad spend in 2016 according to CEASA, however ThinkTV has recently reported a shift to digital formats, noting that AVOD (video on demand) spend increased 48 per cent year on year.

Mobile advertising, a subset of the digital advertising spend, increased to 15 per cent of the whole paid media market in 2016 up from 11 per cent in 2015; while digital video also continued to grow, representing five per cent  of the total ad spend in 2016 up from three per cent in 2015. 

CEASA ad spend data versus SMI data at a glance:

• CEASA includes ad revenue from all major paid media channels, using authorised data sources from industry bodies including ThinkTV, Outdoor Media Association, IAB Australia and Commercial Radio Australia; including spend from both agencies and direct advertisers.  Data is released bi-annually with January to June data released in September; and July to December released in April.
• SMI includes ad revenue from most large media agency groups but excludes all IPG Mediabrands agencies including UM, Initiative, Cadreon and Ansible.  SMI does not include any direct advertiser spend.  Data released mid-month the following month with incomplete digital data.  The second release of data with additional digital data is issued at the end of the following month.

Vijay Solanki, CEO of IAB added, “The latest consumer data shows that over 20million Aussies are online and 15million are on their mobiles.  As consumer penetration increases and immersion deepens, it’s inevitable that smart marketers would want to follow.  All the data suggests that deepening consumer immersion into mobile and video will continue to drive revenue.”