The media agency market fell 8.9% in August, the 12th month in a row to record a drop in advertising demand, according to the SMI (Standard Media Index).
All major media recorded reduced advertising spend. Total TV bookings fell 5.8%, digital 8.6%, outdoor 12.6% and radio 10%.
However, SMI analysts forecast the agency market delivering a positive result in October.
An early look at September bookings is encouraging with the level of decline well below that seen in recent months, says SMI AU/NZ managing director Jane Ractliffe.
"And now that we’ve seen interest rates cut to their lowest point in history we are even more confident in our forecast for the advertising market to grow year-on-year in October," she says.
"And we can see in our category trend forecasts that many advertisers that spend the bulk of their advertising budgets in the Q4 period are already preparing to again grow their media investment.’"
In August only ten categories reported growth. The largest increase was from insurance advertisers, up 33% compared to the same month last year.
Automotive was down 8.5% fall in August and retail reported a 14.8% fall.
For the year to August, automotive brand adspend is back 3.8% and retail down 0.1%.
Among the ten largest categories the best growth so far this year is from insurance, up 8.7%, and travel 9.3%.
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