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Digital now two-thirds of the advertising turnover pie, says ASA
Digital is now responsible for two-thirds of advertising revenue in Aotearoa.
The ASA‘s latest advertising turnover report shows total digital spend was $2,422 million in the year ending 31 December 2024. That accounts for 67.4% of all advertising revenue in Aotearoa, up from $2,112m (62.9%) the year before.
The total digital figure also includes digital advertising revenue for newspapers, magazines, radio and television. In total, there was $250m in digital ad spend across these segments.
The Advertising Standards Authority reports the revenue pie grew modestly in the past year, to $3,592m. In 2023, that total was $3.359m.
The annual turnover report covers advertising across television, newspapers, magazines, interactive media, radio, outdoor, addressed mail, unaddressed mail and cinema.
Total TV spend down, digital up
The 2024 figure for total TV (linear plus digital TV) was $490m or 13.6% of the pie – down from $534m (15.9%) in 2023. This continues a declining trend in TV ad spend. In 2022, the figure was $599m, equating to 17.7% of total advertising revenue.
The decline in spend on broadcast TV revenues runs counter to its audience reach, which has been more or less stable year-on-year, says Jacqueline Freeman, ThinkTV GM Communications.
“TV continues to offer incredible reach, cost efficiency, far superior attention metrics, and the best ROI of any advertising medium,” says Freeman.
“We have been working extremely hard on a number of initiatives to win back a bigger share of the advertising market.”
Digital TV ad spend continues to rise, however. It stood at $97m for 2024, up from $91m in 2023 and $82m in 2022.
ASA advertising turnover report 2024 – the figures
| $m | % of total | |
| Television | $393 | 10.9% |
| Television digital | $97 | 2.7% |
| TOTAL TELEVISION | $490 | 13.6% |
| Newspapers | $165 | 4.6% |
| Newspaper digital | $109 | 3.0% |
| TOTAL NEWSPAPERS | $274 | 7.6% |
| Radio | $255 | 7.1% |
| Radio digital | $17 | 0.5% |
| TOTAL RADIO | $272 | 7.6% |
| Magazines | $84 | 2.3% |
| Magazine digital | $28 | 0.8% |
| TOTAL MAGAZINES | $112 | 3.1% |
| Digital only | $2,171 | 60.4% |
| Digital other* | $251 | 7.0% |
| TOTAL DIGITAL | $2,422 | 67.4% |
| OUT-OF-HOME | $212 | 5.9% |
| ADDRESSED MAIL | $25 | 0.7% |
| UNADDRESSED MAIL | $26 | 0.7% |
| CINEMA | $10 | 0.3% |
| TOTAL | $3,592 | 100% |
*Note: Digital revenue for newspapers, magazines, radio and television is recorded twice in this table – in each sector and in Digital Other. It is recorded once in the Total Revenue.
