The Australian advertising market slipped 3.4 per cent in August compared with the same month last year following three consecutive months of growth, according to advertising expenditure data from Guideline SMI.
The underlying market remains stable, with total ad spend through media agencies up 0.7 per cent in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period in 2025, Guideline SMI data shows.
Ad spend in traditional media was broadly stable thanks partly to strong growth in Outdoor, which gained 10.7 per cent in August compared with the previous comparable month.
Digital ad spend is currently tracking 7.1 per cent behind the same month last year, with some late bookings still to be reported. Pure Play Video ad spend continues to grow, gaining 13.8 per cent in August year -on-year. However demand for some digital formats shortened, with Content Sites, Search and Social all currently trailing spend levels reported for the previous August, Guideline SMI data indicates.
August was only the second negative month of the calendar year thus far, with forward bookings indicating firm demand is continuing into September and October. April also declined, due to high expenditure levels in the previous comparable month that were inflated by political campaign activity ahead of the 2025 Federal election.
Guideline SMI chief insights and analytics officer Sean Wright said the August result appeared to reflect a shorter Digital market rather than a broader trend.
“Outdoor continues to demonstrate strong momentum, while we have already seen that end- of-month results can strengthen as late Digital bookings are reported,” Wright said. “May, June and July all moved into positive territory as additional bookings were processed, and July is now showing growth of 2.8 per cent.
“The broader Australian ad market remains in positive territory for the calendar year, with six of the first eight months delivering growth.
“Government advertising remained particularly strong in August, up 44.4 per cent year-on-year, while Wealth Management ad spend gained 28.6 per cent as Australians reconsider where to invest following tax reform legislation that was passed in June.”
Print results in August were mixed as Total Magazine ad spend was back 1.8 per cent, but Consumer Magazines gained 21.5 per cent; Newspapers were down 19 per cent overall, but within that, Regional Press was up 18.8 per cent.
Total Broadcast Television ad spend was back 5.2 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, while Radio slipped 1.7 per cent and Cinema declined 27.6 per cent.
Advertising demand for the financial year to date is broadly flat, back by 0.5 per cent compared with the same period last year.
