Australia’s advertising market has delivered its second largest April month of ad spend in 2023, and although 7.8 per cent below last year’s huge record total, the ad spend remains 6.7 per cent above that achieved in April 2021 and one per cent above the pre-COVID month of April 2019 according to the latest SMI Data.
Last year’s record ad spend was achieved due to abnormally high Government and Political Party category ad spend ahead of the Federal election in May, and as a result this month’s result is back 7.8 per cent year-on-year.
But with the Government and Political Parties category ad spend excluded the underlying result is a decline of four per cent.
And SMI’s APAC managing dDirector Jane Ractliffe said the fact the Australian market has delivered its second highest level of April ad spend on record underscored the fact that we still have a robust level of ad demand in the market.
Ractliffe said: “Last year’s April result was inflated by abnormal Government and Political Party ad spend ahead of the election, so to deliver revenues that are 6.7 per cent above the April 2021 total is an incredible testament of the market’s current strength,’’ she said.
And she said it was the same picture over the first four months of this calendar year, suggesting the focus should instead be on the underlying market results given the size of the abnormal influences.
“The underlying results for the first four months of 2023 paint a very stable picture of ad demand with bookings back just $17 million, or 0.7 per cent over those four months which is a remarkable result given the current economic uncertainty,’’ she said.
“With those categories removed we are also reporting double digit gains for Outdoor, Magazines and Cinema while Radio ad spend is flat so the view of underlying ad demand is entirely different.’’
Government ad spend declined by 28 per cent and Political Party ad spend back 86 per cent year-on-year in April, removing $29 million from the market and representing 54 per cent of the month’s revenue decline.
“The huge fall in election-related ad spend disguised strong growth in other categories, with Insurance category ad spend up 19.3 per cent, Restaurant category ad spend up 31.9 per cent and Automotive Brand advertising continued to rebound and was up by 17.5 per cent this month,’’ Ractliffe said.
In April the Outdoor media was again the strongest performer with bookings up 12 per cent year-on-year, with print Magazines the only other major media reporting double digit growth but from a smaller base. Total Digital ad spend lifted 0.7 per cent with lower Programmatic ad spend offset by a huge 51.5 per cent increase in revenues to Digital Video Sites (mostly Streaming TV sites). And she said that despite the abnormal market influences and the economic uncertainty Australia’s ad market remains at a record high over the financial year-to-date period, up 0.8 per cent, and an even higher 3.2 per cent when Government category ad spend was removed.
