SMI Data: Footy Grand Finals See Ad Spends Soar For October, As COVID Fears Subside

SMI Data: Footy Grand Finals See Ad Spends Soar For October, As COVID Fears Subside
B&T Magazine
By B&T Magazine
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Australia’s media agency market is finally emerging from the COVID crisis, with the latest SMI data showing the market back just 4.8 per cent in October and the forward bookings detail confirming November and December ad demand is well above where it was at the same time last year.

The October market was boosted by the move of the AFL and NRL finals and Grand Finals into the month which resulted in a 12.7 per cent increase in TV bookings, with Metropolitan TV ad spend up 15.7 per cent year-on-year.

Digital bookings were stable in the month (-0.4 per cent) mostly due to soaring advertising demand for social media sites (+45.5 per cent in October) with each of Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn all reporting growth of a minimum 34 per cent compared to October 2019.

And SMI AU/NZ managing sirector Jane Ractliffe said the stronger market demand was continuing, with early November data showing the market so far back seven per cent with a week’s trading still to come.

“The October SMI data has confirmed the ad market is well and truly leaving the COVID crisis behind, while future demand is also quickly accelerating in both November and December,’’ she said.

“Our Forward Pacings data – which compares the current level of confirmed future ad spend to that at the same time last year – shows November advertising demand is already ten percentage points ahead of where it was in November 2019 and for December the level of confirmed ad demand is now 12 percentage points higher, and that increase in demand is the highest ever seen.”

However, the TV market in November is affected by a few timing issues which aided its early 14.2 per cent increase in ad spend with the month featuring three highly competitive State of Origin matches that were broadcast in June/July last year. But there was also no cricket broadcast this November but it featured last year.

“The early signs for November are very encouraging and show the market is now on the cusp of returning to growth as there was a week’s trading still to occur when that early November data was collected. So we maybe reporting our first month of growth in more than two years next month,’’ Ractliffe said.

Other interesting trends emerging in the October data include an ongoing decline in Programmatic ad spend, with premium Content Sites regaining the position of the third largest Digital sector in October, reversing many years of erosion by Programmatic ad spend.

The Pure Play Video Sites sector (which includes sites such as YouTube and the TV Streaming sites) also reported good growth in October ad spend (+15.5 per cent) and within the traditional media Regional TV (+8 per cent) and Regional Radio (-2.7 per cent) were the strongest performers.

Among the key categories, the largest gain this month was from the food/produce/dairy category (+42 per cent) but COVID continues to affect other key verticals with travel ad spend back 76 per cent and the movies/cinema/theme park spend was back 87 per cent year-on-year.

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