Latin America

Marketing budget conditions have improved for the 5th consecutive month, details Warc [pdf] in its latest Global Marketing Index. The budget component of the index improved to a reading of 54.3 this month from 52.9 in April. Rather than following last year's pattern of diminished enthusiasm between April and May, this month's index rose to its highest value since the index's start in October 2011. (A score above 50 indicates a generally improving environment, while a score below 50 indicates a generally declining environment.) Read more »

North Americans are becoming more confident in spending, according to [download page] results from a Nielsen survey of consumer confidence and spending intentions. In Q1, 42% of respondents (all surveyed online) said they plan to spend on discretionary items this year, up from 36% the previous quarter. Within the US, 23% said they will spend on home improvement and decorating projects, a significant jump from 17% who responded that way in Q4 2012. Additionally, 22% are planning to take a vacation, up 2% quarter-over-quarter, with the same figures applying to out-of-home entertainment spending. Read more »

Global ad spending grew by 3.2% last year, but some sectors fared better than others, details Nielsen in further results released publicly from its Global AdView Pulse report. At the forefront of spending growth were the telecom and FMCG sectors, boosting expenditures by 7% and 6.8%, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, spending by durables brands declined by 2.1%, while healthcare companies cut back slightly, by 0.7%. Read more »

By 2015, the internet should account for 23.4% of global ad spending, details Zenith Optimedia in a new forecast. That's up more than 5% points from last year's 18%, and comes at the expense of almost all traditional media, none of which are slated to see any growth in share of spending. TV's share will remain flat, at about 40%, as will cinema's (at just 0.6%), but newspapers, magazines, radio, and outdoor will see varying levels of declining share. Print, as expected, will be hardest hit: newspapers and magazines are the only media forecast to see a decline in expenditures. Read more »

44% of Americans say they share or like online content that others have posted on social media and other online sites, according to survey results from Ipsos. While that's right about the global average of 45%, certain segments of the population show a heightened tendency to share content. For example, within the US, women are about 56% more likely than men to say they share or like what others have posted (53% vs. 34%), while 18-34-year-olds are roughly 30% more likely than the average respondent to do so. Read more »

Traditional media continue to dominate global advertising spending, and most show no signs of falling off for the time being, according to new data released by Nielsen. TV, which commands the lion's share of global ad budgets, saw a 4.3% increase in expenditures for the year, reaching $350 billion. Cinema, radio, and outdoor saw growth rate above the 3.2% overall average, up 5.8%, 6.1%, and 7.7%, respectively. And while magazines (-1.6%) and newspapers (-0.2%) saw slight declines in spending, they still accounted for more than one-quarter of global spending. Read more »

Marketing budget conditions improved again this month, details Warc [pdf] in its latest Global Marketing Index. The budget component of the index improved to a reading of 52.9 this month from 52.4 in February, representing the 4th consecutive month above the threshold reading of 50, and the 6th consecutive month of improving sentiment. (A score above 50 indicates a generally improving environment, while a score below 50 indicates a generally declining environment.) Read more »

49% of US consumers believe the best thing that retailers can do to improve the shopping experience is to better integrate in-store, online and mobile shopping channels, details a survey conducted by Accenture. That notion is shared by 48% of consumers in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Brazil, and 38% in China and Japan. The results point to a desire for an increasingly seamless cross-channel experience, where personalized experiences are provided across every engagement channel. Read more »

Worldwide advertising spending grew by 3.2% year-over-year in 2012 to reach $557 billion, per data from Nielsen's latest quarterly Global AdView Pulse report. After increasing by 2.7% in the first half of the year, ad spend heated up in Q3 to the tune of a 4.3% gain, before losing steam in Q4, increasing by 2.5%, the smallest gain of the year. For the full year, ad spending in North America grew by 4.6% (with the US' increase recently reported by Kantar Media to be at 3%), while Europeans cut spending by 4.2%. Read more »

Global advertising spend (based on trends in 12 major markets) will increase by 3% this year and 5.4% next year, predicts Warc [pdf] in a new forecast. However, taking into account forecast inflation provides a duller forecast for global ad spend growth, at just 0.6% this year and 2.4% in 2014. This year's 3% forecast growth (at current prices) follows from 3.8% estimated growth (also at current prices) last year, with the slowdown mainly due to political and Olympic dollars exiting the market this year along with continuing global economic concerns. Read more »