Global ad spending across major media grew by 2.8% year-over-year in the first 6 months (H1) of this year, with faster growth noted in Q2 (3.5%), particularly in June (5.8%), details Nielsen [download page] in its latest AdView Pulse report. During H1, display advertising – though measured in a subset of markets – posted the fastest growth rate, of 26.6%. TV continued to outpace the overall average, with a 4.2% increase in spending, although it was outdoor (5%) that rose most rapidly among traditional media.
Some media followed predictable patterns: spending on newspaper advertising dipped by 2% year-over-year, while magazine ad spend was down by 1.9%. Cinema didn’t improve on a poor Q1, down by 5.9% overall for the first half. Finally radio also found itself in the red, with a slight 0.9% decrease.
On a regional level, Latin America (13.1%) posted the largest relative increase in spending, followed by Asia-Pacific (6.4%). Growth rates hewed closer to the average in the Middle East and Africa (3.9%), while lagging in North America (2.7%) and negative in Europe (-6%).
Turning to industry sectors, the study indicates that industry and services upped its ad spend by 7.2%, with FMCG (5.7%) and durables (5.2%) also showing solid growth. Healthcare ad spend increased by 2.5%, while the entertainment (-1.2%), financial (-1.7%) and automotive (-3.1%) sectors all pulled back.
Despite that spending cut, automotive remains the leading sector in terms of ad spending, at 9.2% of the total across the measured media during H1. Media and publishing was a close second at 8.9% share, followed by healthcare (7.5%) and entertainment (7.4%).
Finally, Procter & Gamble was the top spender on advertising, ahead of Unilever, L’Oreal, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors.
About the Data: Nielsen Global AdView Pulse measures ad spending for TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, cinema and Internet display advertising. Ad spend is based mainly on published rate-cards. Some markets may exclude select media due to data availability.
