Advertising revenue up 11 per cent across all media

By SIMON HENDERY

Advertising revenue across all media increased more than 11 per cent last year, according to figures compiled by the Advertising Standards Authority.

ASA chief executive Glen Wiggs said the figures indicated last year was a buoyant one for advertising, but while the environment had been positive, it remained competitive between the different media.

"It's very, very competitive here - more competitive than it is in Sydney," Wiggs said.

On the print side, local magazines titles were competing against "robust" competition from a slew of overseas titles that are also available on bookshop shelves here, he said.

The Newspaper Advertising Bureau declared itself delighted with the figures, which showed a 9 per cent increase across newspapers, which includes the community paper market.

NPA director Sonya Crosby said: "To grow well from a large revenue base is significant and demonstrates the medium of newspaper continues to be an extremely strong currency."

She welcomed the inclusion, for the first time, of spending figures for mail and online advertising, saying their inclusion better reflected overall expenditure.

"We all use Nielsen Media Research and other sources for planning and trending information, however it is the ASA figures that provide the most accurate position for establishing market size and share."

Wiggs said the online figure in the survey ($8 million) was understated because it only included data from the five members of the Online Publishers Group.

The Television Broadcasters' Council said the 14.7 per cent increase in TV ad spending was a result of strong economic growth and stable audiences for television in competition with other media.

New Zealand advertising industry turnover - December 2003 year end