Ad spend, as measured by media agency bookings, grew 3.3% in February to $595.7 million compared to the same month last year despite the absense of the Australian Open broadcast which returned to January this year.
Australia has now more than a year of consecutive monthly growth, according to SMI (Standard Media Index) numbers.
Total spend in February was just 1.9%, or $11.2 million, below the record level of February ad spend reported in 2018.
As expected, the absence of the Australian open tennis was the main reason for a 7.3% drop in TV ad spend in February, with the lower demand also flowing through to a reduced level bookings to the TV streaming sites market.
SMI AU/NZ Managing Director Jane Ractliffe says the result underscores the buoyancy in the market given the Australian Open was moved to February last year due to COVID.
"Usually when such large sporting events are missing in a month it results in an overall reduction in year-on-year ad spend so the fact that we are reporting continued growth is a very positive sign for the broader ad market,’’ she says.
The most COVID-affected media of Outdoor and Cinema continued their recovery with bookings lifting by 7.5% and 105% respectively.
Ractliffe says the positive February results also ensures the new calendar year started with a record level of ad spend with the total for the January/ February period up 11.7% on those same months last year.
That’s 3.8% - or $43.6 million – above the previous record for this period set in 2018.
And it’s a similar trend over the eight months of the current financial year with the market’s value up 15.5% to a total which is 4.2% above the previous record set in the 2019 financial year.
And this month it’s also notable that Regional media is reporting across the board growth in ad spend, with Regional TV bookings up 2.5%, ad spend for Regional Radio up 5.1% and the Regional Newspaper market also continues to recover with its bookings up 13.1%.
Those results have been significantly assisted by increased Government Category ad spend as the level of bookings from that category continues to grow with the total +74% in February as preFederal election spending begins to kick in along with the continued COVID messaging.
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