Banks, energy, gambling battle bad press with major ad spend increase in 2018

By Gabriele Purnawan Lee | 8 January 2019
 
An outdoor ad for CommBank

Banking and energy sectors saw two of the largest increases in ad spend in 2019 with gambling also seeing a significant jump.

During the first ten months of 2018, advertising by banks rose by $45.6 million to $299.2m, according to data provided by the Standard Media Index (SMI).

Energ similarly recorded one of the largest rising in advertising, jumping from $23.8m to $72.3m across all media.

Likewise, gambling ad spend jumped 15.2% to $253.4 million despite extra regulations being introduced to the category.

The rise in advertising expenditure comes as the government puts pressure on all three sectors. As a result, banking, energy and gambling companies have pumped more money into upholding their images as customer perception takes a hit.

In an attempt to appear as a consumer-friendly company, many energy companies have run constant advertisements promoting high discounts in 2018. 

As findings from the Royal Commission continue to unfold, banks such as Westpac, CommBank and ANZ have all released significant ad pushes.

SMI managing director Jan Ractliffe said 2018 was the highest calendar year-to-date expenditure in advertising that they have ever seen in 12 years. 

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