Ad spend slows

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Thursday 23rd August 2001

New Zealand advertising spending has slowed dramatically in the first half of the year.

Latest figures show the amount of money spend on advertising here increased by just 1% for the six months compared with growth of more than 9% in the same period last year.

The snail's pace reflects a slowdown across the entire Asia Pacific region.

ACNielsen, which monitors advertising spend across 11 markets in the region, says there are signs the advertising industry is bracing for a tough year after the significant increases achieved in 2000.

Advertising expenditure figures from 11 markets show that although the total value of advertising for the first half of 2001 edged up slightly to US$13.5 billion, growth slowed in all markets due to a softening world economy.

"Essentially all markets experienced slower growth in the first six months of 2001 compared to the same period last year," says ACNielsen executive Forrest Didier.

"Some 'growth' markets such as China, the Philippines and Indonesia are believed to have actually experienced only little or no growth due to heavy discounting common during tough times. This is a far cry from the same period last year when many markets reported high double-digit growth."

Ad spend in Australia for the first half of the year actually fell 2.4% compared with last year's 14.7% rise. In South Korea the difference was particularly marked with advertising spending falling 6.7% compared with growth in the first half last year at 35%.

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