Australia’s advertising market, as defined by media agency bookings, fell 11.6% in April.
The drop was mostly driven by the absence of political advertising that inflated April 2025 ahead of the federal election, according to Guideline SMI data.
Political parties and unions spending was down 97%, a decline of almost $45 million.
With government and political advertising removed, the underlying decline for April is 5.5%, and that figure is expected to narrow with late programmatic bookings still to come.
Jane Ractliffe, Guideline SMI APAC managing director, said April 2026 was clearly abnormal due to the election comparison.
“In any pre-election month we see large increases in political party ad spend and it was no different last year when a surge in ad spend by the political party product category drove total ad spend in April last year to a record April level,” she said.
“The sheer volume of ad spend is almost impossible to replace under normal circumstances so of course all major media are going to be reporting lower ad bookings this April.”
Ractliffe said forward bookings pointed to renewed energy in the market.
“For the month of May we’re seeing 93% of last May’s total bookings — ex digital — already confirmed and paid, and that’s by far the highest level of forward bookings we’ve seen since COVID,” she said.
Automotive brand was the standout growth category in April, with bookings up 34% as spend to EVs, SUVs and light commercial subcategories doubled.
SMI’s forward data shows automotive brand spend in May is already positive with a week of trading still to be captured.
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