The Rugby World Cup and local elections contributed to a record level of September advertising bookings in New Zealand according to Standard Media Index (SMI). Local media agency advertising jumped 15.1 percent to break the $100 million mark for the first time in a September month.
In the report, SMI Australia/New Zealand managing director Jane Ractliffe says the impact of the Rugby World Cup was clearly evident in New Zealand where it prompted a 22.4 percent increase in local television ad spend.
On top of this, she says the excitement surrounding the tournament also drove general market confidence with New Zealand’s outdoor media as its revenue grew 42 percent. Meanwhile, radio ad spend grew 5.7 percent.
Looking at where the spend was coming from, the Government category saw the fastest growth in New Zealand for September as it was the start of local council elections.
Meanwhile across the ditch in Australia, the market was more subdued in September.
According to SMI, the report says the Australian market reported a steadier result for the month’s bookings back just 3.1 percent to nearly $650 million. The result is higher than the last `normal’ September month in 2016 (as September 2017’s results were inflated by Same Sex Marriage ad spend and last September the Financial Services Royal Commission abnormally grew bookings).
About bookings in Australia, Ractliffe says: “The Rugby World Cup has also had some impact on Australian Television revenues, with the Metropolitan TV sector reporting its strongest month in a year, and that’s despite the absence of the NRL Grand Final revenues this September.”
The report says media companies seem more positive about the Australian Market as their total investment in advertising their own content inventory jumped 59 percent in September.
The best performing Australian media for the month was outdoor as its bookings increased nine percent to be beyond $100 million in a September month for the first time. However, SMI points out that may be aided by an extra Monday in the month which pulled some October revenues into the spend.
In Australia, the Insurance category remains by far the fastest-growing, with its total media investment up 37 percent in September and it’s also the fastest growing in the September quarter with those bookings up 32 percent.
Looking at advertising expenditure for the calendar year, the New Zealand market is now in positive territory (+1.4 percent) while in Australia, the market is yet to return to positive territory. For the calendar year, it remains back at 4.7 percent compared to the same nine months of 2018.
