NZ ad spend stats: internet poised to pass radio, magazines

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) figures released today show internet advertising grew last year, and is now closing in on radio and magazines. Newspapers remain the number one medium for ads, but take a big hit.

Newspaper advertising totalled $760 million for 2008, down from 2007’s $826 million. The drop puts newspapers behind where they were in 2004, when revenue totalled $790 million.

Despite newspapers’ fall, the overall ad spend remained nearly static at $2.317 billion across all media for 2008, just behind 2007’s $2.335 billion.

Consequently, newspapers saw their share of the ad market fall during 2008 to 32.8% against 35.4% a year ago.

Newspaper Publishers Association president Michael Muir says he's "very encouraged by continued advertising revenue growth in our online newspapers" as lines blur between media. Ad spend on newspaper websites is reported to the ASA separately under the interactive category.

Other media retained close market share to their 2007 levels, bar interactive advertising (defined as display, classified, directory and search engine advertising delivered over the internet) which increased its total spend from $135 million to $193 million (as first reported by NBR) as its share rose from 5.8% to 8.3%.

The internet remained at No 5 on the Advertising Standards Authority’s chart, behind magazines at four and radio at three. But with magazines and radio dropping, the gap is now extremely close between the three media (see chart above).

And with radio and magazines hoping for a flat year at best, but the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Greig Buckley telling NBR the net will enjoy “double-digit” ad growth this year, based on his anecdotal survey so far, 2009 could well be the year online moves into third place.

There is still quite some daylight, however, between the internet and television (static at $647 million) and newspapers clinging to the number one slot.

Addressed mail was the other star of 2008. Spending on the targeted medium shot from $36 million in 2007 to $56 million in 2008.