Advertising spend, as defined by media agency bookings in Australia, fell 3.2% in October but is tracking for the second largest year on record, according to SMI (Standard Media Index) data.
The total market result compares to a record October in 2022, when total advertising spend moved beyond $800 million for the first time since 2017.
Numbers for the financial year-to-date show the market is back just 0.7% on the same record period last year. Calendar year-to-date results show the market is back 2.1% from last year’s record total.
"There’s a lot of market chatter about the decline in the ad market this year, but that pessimism is sadly misplaced as the SMI numbers confirm that ad spend over the January to October period is the second largest in SMI history,’’ says Jane Ractliffe, Guideline SMI APAC managing director.
"In fact if you remove Government and Political Party category ad spend to normalise for last year’s Federal election, then total ad spend in this calendar year-to-date period would be up as the government decline this year is more than $100 million and the decline in Political Party ad spend is $50 million."
Ractliffe says the numbers confirmed Outdoor media has finally overcome the full impact of COVID.
The total value of Outdoor ad spend this calendar year-to-date is now 10.4% above that for the same period in 2019 and a record calendar year to date total of beyond $1 billion.
"Outdoor’s October result was outstanding and the media has strong momentum going into the end of the year,’’ says Ractliffe.
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