Ad spend, as measured by media agency bookings, closed the year on a weaker note, with growth slowing following the post lockdown surge.
SMI (Standard Media Index) numbers show a 10% fall in December compared to the same month the year before.
And the December quarter was down marginally, just 0.2%.
However, the calendar year closed 6.9% higher to nearly the $9 billion mark.
The market is now 10.9%, or $875.7 million, larger than it was in pre-COVID 2019.
Jane Ractliffe, SMI AU/NZ managing director: "Australia’s ad market has clearly emerged in a far stronger position following the COVID downturn.
"Growth in the Australian ad market looks to be accelerating not just post COVID but also more broadly as we can see that in the past ten years the value of the ad market has grown by a remarkable 39.4%, which represents an extra $2.5 billion in advertising bookings.
"At this rate the market’s value will be well north of $10 billion in the next few years.’’
From a demand perspective, the first half of the year was strongest, with bookings for the six months to June up 11.6% to a record $4.29 billion, in part driven by the federal election campaign.
The growth rate fell to 2.8% in the second half.
And Ractliffe says the -0.2% result for the December quarter is just $5 million below the record level achieved at the same time last year.
"The fourth quarter period was the first in CY2019 to turn positive following the depths of the COVID decline that year, and every year since Q4 ad spend has continued to deliver strong growth so it’s no surprise to see the market try to find a new baseline," she says.
Media highlights this year include the continuing COVID recoveries of the Outdoor and Cinema media with their bookings jumping 24.6% and 82% respectively.
News media continued to grow its digital ad spend but the digital audio market was the fastest-growing digital market related to traditional content, up 30%.
There were also some firsts within the broader digital media, with video-based ad spend moving beyond $1 billion for the first time (and set to overtake display at the current growth rate).
Search media also delivered more than $1 billion in agency bookings for the first time.
But the fastest growing digital sector remains social media with the total up 14.7% for the year.
The year was notable for the last of the COVID-inflated government category ad spend and also government and political ad spend surrounding the federal and Victorian elections.
Other large categories also delivering record levels of CY2022 ad spend included retail, insurance and restaurants.
The travel category reported the strongest growth rate of 54.7%, representing growth of $141.5 million from its COVID-related decline.
And the second half of the year was also notable for the start of the automotive brand category’s return to the ad market with its total now up 7.7% across the year.
However, ad spend from this category remains at least $250 million below its CY2018 peak.
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