Advertising spend, as measured by media agency bookings, fell 12.2% in July, a slow start to the financial year as global uncertainty and tariffs dampened demand.
Guideline SMI data shows government ad spend fell 38.6% while the food/produce/dairy category was back 27.6% and the automotive brand category was down 17.8%.
Cinema delivered the strongest growth of any media in July, with a 32.6% increase, a record July ad spend.
Guideline SMI APAC managing director Jane Ractliffe said last year’s Paris Olympics was a factor in the lower ad demand but key product categories also reduced media investments.
“We’re seeing the market remain incredibly short with the volatile global environment creating a lot of uncertainty and adding to the high degree of caution we’re seeing around committing to advertising campaigns,’’ Ractliffe said.
“However, SMI’s forward pacings data suggests this trend is starting to abate as almost 80% of last August’s ad spend has already been committed and that’s despite the month including by far the bulk of Paris Olympics ad spend.’’
With the football finals imminent, the Outdoor sector of Sporting Venues grew bookings 1.5% in July and the Street Furniture market reported double digit growth in an Outdoor market back 7.9%.
TV sales were abnormally affected by last year’s Olympics and Digital ad sales are so far down 10.9% but, given the shortness of the market, further late bookings are expected.
Growth categories in July included insurance with those brands setting a new July record after growing ad spend 14.5% and banks made their biggest monthly deposit since 2018, with ad spend up 11.6%.
The overall market is in positive territory for the calendar year-to-date with ad spend up 1.4% for the first seven months of the year.
Outdoor and digital media are delivering record levels of CYTD ad spend with outdoor bookings up 11.1% and digital ad spend is +4.1% with streaming video sites and programmatic adding the most revenues.
Cinema ad spend has lifted 9.9% over the seven months to be at its highest point since the same period in 2017.
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