Harvey Norman was New Zealand's largest advertiser in 2025, overtaking Foodstuffs NZ, as telecommunications and beverages recorded the biggest year-on-year spending increases, according to Nielsen's Biggest Ad Spenders of 2025 Report.
Harvey Norman was also the biggest advertiser in Australia in 2025.
In New Zealand, telecommunications spending rose $41.8 million (25%) and beverages jumped $40.5 million (25%), with government departments, services and community up $24.8 million (7%), travel up $23.8 million (10%) and business services up $21.6 million (10%).
"In New Zealand, it's not only about how much you spend, but where you place it," said Rose Lopreiato, Pacific commercial lead at Nielsen Ad Intel.
"With retail still leading the market and competition heating up in categories where consumers are comparing value and changing providers, marketers need a sharper view of where the pressure is building, both the sectors drawing the biggest budgets and the brands increasing their share of voice."
Retail remained the dominant category with $675.4 million in ad spend, followed by leisure and entertainment ($465.4 million) and foodstuffs ($441.8 million).
Among the top 20 advertisers, Spark NZ climbed from eighth to fourth, reflecting intense telco competition alongside One NZ at seventh and 2degrees Mobile entering the rankings at 20th.
McDonald's rose to sixth from 10th while KFC slipped to ninth from fifth.
New entrants to the top 20 included Auckland Council (16th), Air New Zealand (19th) and 2degrees Mobile (20th), while Unilever Australasia, Brand Developers and Mitre 10 dropped out. Bank of New Zealand climbed from 20th to 15th while ANZ fell from sixth to 13th.
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