SMI Reports Record Australian Ad Spend in September 2015

Standard Media Index has revealed the ongoing strength of the Australian agency market with total advertising expenditure for the month of September now at record levels.

SMI this week added an extra $19.5m in late digital bookings for the month of September and as a result bookings for the digital media are now showing year-on-year growth of 13.6% to $165.2m.

Those extra digital bookings have lifted the total market figure for September to a record level of $720.9 million, up 0.2% on the same month last year.

And as previously reported, the record expenditure occurred despite the absence of the AFL Grand Final in September 2015 when it was broadcast in September 2014.

“Australia’s advertisers continue to grow in confidence and back innovation in Australian media, and as a result we are seeing record high levels of advertising spend in this market in 2015,”SMI’s AU/NZ Managing Director Jane Schulze said.

“Each of the three largest product categories for which we report advertising spend – automotive brand, retail and food/produce/dairy – delivered strong year-on-year growth in their marketing budgets in September.”

And apart from digital, the outdoor and radio media also reported strong growth in ad spend in September.

SMI also has clear visibility on the product categories driving digital’s growth and reported that the domestic banking category was one of the key drivers of September’s digital gains after lifting its digital ad spend +27.2% in September to $11.9 million.

The food/produce/dairy category is also reporting huge digital growth of 53.6% to $6.7 million.

However, some categories are continuing to reduce their digital ad spend, with those including communications (digital ad spend fell 17.8% YOY in September) and other financial services (-12.2% YOY).