FY2018/19 has ended with a three percent decline in agency spend according to SMI data, with Outdoor being the only media reporting growth across the year. The result comes after June saw the strongest results for the year, with an 8.1 percent year-on-year increase to reach $91.4 million.
The rise in June ended what SMI called a “very difficult 2018/19 financial year” in the release.
The rise in activity in New Zealand’s agency market for June can be seen in the majority of major media reporting double-digit growth in June led by Cinema (+16.8 percent), Newspapers (+16.7 percent), Digital (+16 percent) and Outdoor (+12.1 percent).
Meanwhile, Radio lifted 4.6 percent and Television’s ad spend gained 1.8 percent.
Supporting the growth in were strong increases in investment from the Government category (+53.7 percent), but also the Communications (+55.9 percent), Banking (+36.9 percent) and the Utilities/Fuel/Energy (+60.8 percent) categories.
SMI’s forward pacings data strongly suggests this positive trend will continue, with the level of bookings for July already at the same level as last year, and the value of confirmed bookings for August already 74 percent of that achieved in August 2018.
SMI AU/NZ managing director Jane Ractliffe says given advertising demand has been soft for such an extended period, New Zealand’s advertising market is now facing an easier comparative period in the next six months.
“Looking forward we can see a far easier path to growth for the agency advertising market as last year the market was back 8.9 percent in August and back 7.3 percent in September.
“Added to that, some large categories are now showing good momentum and we can see in the forward pacings data that for the current July/August period media investment [excluding digital]from the Utilities category is already 39 percent above the total spent for the same period last year, while QSR spending is back just 1.1 percent with a full month to go and the Tourism/Accommodation market is already ahead by 16 percent.’’
Looking at the calendar year-to-date results, there is a small decline of one percent for the industry, with Outdoor reporting the strongest results (+10.7 percent), followed by Radio (+4.6 percent).
However, Television is down 5.4 percent and Digital back a lesser 1.2 percent.
For the finical year, the strong results in May and June saw it ends with a total decline in agency bookings of three percent to $1 billion. Outdoor was the only media reporting growth, up five percent.
