Global ad spend marginally up by 3.2 per cent last year: Nielsen

For the advertising industry, 2012 closed on a positive note with ad spends increasing 3.2 per cent globally year-over-year to $557 billion, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report.

A strong third quarter, which saw growth of 4.3 per cent, helped drive the annual increase. Ad spend growth receded to a more modest 2.5 per cent in the fourth quarter.

All regions except Europe increased their ad spending in 2012. The Middle East/African market showed impressive growth of 14.6 per cent for the year as the region’s economy stabilized. Egypt was part of that turnaround, registering a 20.4 per cent increase in spending. Meanwhile, deep cuts to ad budgets continued in Europe, fueling a 5.3 per cent decrease for the final quarter, yielding an annual decrease of 4.2 per cent. Even economic powerhouse Germany reported a one per cent dip in the fourth quarter, the second consecutive quarter during which the country reported a decline in advertising spend.

The Asian-Pacific market underperformed as well, as its annual increase in ad spend fell from 11.5 per cent in 2011 to a mere 2.8 per cent in 2012, propelled in part by China’s very slight gain of 1.9 per cent for the year.