The global advertising market saw healthy growth during the third quarter of 2012, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report. Spending was up 4.3 percent over Q3 2011, to $139 billion. This gain outpaced the 2.7 percent growth seen in the first half of 2012.
An influx in advertising investments drove growth in the Middle East and Africa (up 18.9% YTD), as well as in North America. The North American market showed a 5 percent increase through September, bolstered by an impressive 10.2 percent increase during Q3. In North America, both the automotive and industry and services categories increased by double digits year-over-year, for both the year-to-date and Q3. The industry and services category includes political ads, a big spend area leading up to the U.S. presidential election.
“Growth in global ad spend accelerated in Q3.The Olympics, a major media event in all parts of the world, and the U.S. presidential election helped drive investment up,” said Randall Beard, global head, advertiser solutions for Nielsen. “We’ll be watching carefully to see if the growth was sustained in Q4 and into 2013, or if there’s a dip in comparison to this year.”
Ad spend also grew in the Asia Pacific region, reporting a 2.7 percent increase in ad spend for the year-to-date through September and a 3.5 percent increase for Q3. Ad spend for the region was supported by the recovery of China’s advertising market, which showed positive ad-spending trends in Q3 (up 3.1%) after two consecutive quarters of decline.
Western Europe, which reported a 2.7 percent decrease in year-over-year ad spending during the first half of 2012, saw deeper Q3 cuts in advertising (-4.8%), as advertisers watched their budgets carefully due to ongoing economic instability. This decline contributed to a year-to-date decrease of 3.4 percent in Europe.
Nielsen Global AdView Pulse measures ad spending for TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, cinema and Internet display advertising. Some markets may exclude select media due to data availability.
The external data sources for the other countries included in the report are:
Argentina: IBOPE
Brazil: IBOPE
Croatia: Nielsen in association with Ipsos
Egypt: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
France: Yacast
Greece: Media Services
Hong Kong: admanGo
Japan: Nihon Daily Tsushinsha
Kuwait: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Lebanon: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Mexico: IBOPE
Pan-Arab Media: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Portugal: Mediamonitor
Saudi Arabia: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Spain: Arce Media
Switzerland: Nielsen in association with Media Focus
UAE: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)