Sluggish time in advertising sector

By DITA DE BONI marketing writer

The Asia-Pacific advertising sector is bracing for a tough year after half-year figures showed decreased spending throughout the region.

New Zealand, which had a 9.1 per cent growth in advertising spending between the first six months of 1999 and the same period last year, grew just 1 per cent between last year and the first half of this year, according to ACNielsen Media International figures.

Just over $822 million was spent on advertising in New Zealand in the half-year period. Around $528 million of that went on television, $160 million on print, $58 million on magazines, $73 million on radio and $4 million on cinema.

While the magazine advertising market was stable, slight increases were noted in cinema and radio, and marginal declines in print and television, the researchers found.

All 11 countries monitored by ACNielsen in the region were sluggish to this June, even though the total value of advertising edged up slightly to $US13.5 billion ($30.6 billion).

Although growth dropped substantially in New Zealand, the local market did not experience the same extremes in advertising spending growth as most neighbouring markets.

For example, the $US386 million ($876 million) Malaysian advertising market went from a 29.2 per cent growth rate to 8.1 per cent this year, the $US1.5 billion ($3.4 billion) Australian sector slumped from 14.7 per cent growth to a 2.4 per cent reduction and the $US5.3 billion ($12 billion) Chinese market dropped from 44.1 per cent to 12.6 per cent growth in the same time.

Singapore had the most dynamic first half year, said ACNielsen, because of the deregulation of the media in that market spurring advertising investments by the media owners themselves.