Nielsen Study Shows Global Ad Spend Struggling in Q1

Global ad spend continues to have moderate growth on a year-on-year basis, but 2013 has seen an increase in spend for certain sectors. Industry and services was the fastest growing global ad spending sector in Q1 2013 with an 8 percent increase, according to Nielsen’s Global AdView Pulse report.

Within the sector ad spending for industry, agriculture, and property had the most growth with a 28.7 percent increase globally. The sector now has 11.5 percent share of ad spend, which makes it a major player in global advertising.

Fast-moving consumer goods continued its growth with a 6.1 percent increase for the first quarter. But the financial and automotive sectors were suffering this quarter with ad spend declining by 2.9 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively. In the automotive sector, the commercial vehicles category faced the most extreme decline with a drop by 23 percent. In the financial sector, advertising in investment and savings and card services each fell by 14 percent in the first quarter. The study surmised that these declinations are most likely a result of the struggling economic situation in the Western world.

In the industry and services sector Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions had the most ad spend, with 22.1 percent and 10 percent growth, respectively.

Latin America led the increase in the fast-moving consumer goods sector with 22.2 percent. Global growth for the sector was helped by the drink subsector, which experienced a 9.7 percent increase, and cosmetics and toiletries, which saw a 5.6 percent increase.

According to the report, global advertising grew just 1.9 percent to $76.6 billion from Q1 2012.