Advertising expenditures around Southeast Asia grew sharply across mainstream media platforms in the third quarter of this year, with the Philippines accounting for the second-most rapid ad budget expansion in the region during this period.
According to a report prepared by media research firm Nielsen, Philippine-based firms increased their ad spending by some 15 percent from July to September.
In this quarter, advertisers paid $1.197 billion to media firms for ad placements, compared to only $1.045 billion in the same period in 2010.
Similar growth patterns were seen around the Asean, signaling a broad-based growth in advertising across all traditional media platforms covered by the report, entitled “Southeast Asia Quarterly Advertising Index.”
The region was led by economic powerhouse Indonesia, which recorded a 24-percent growth in ad spending during the period, from $1.707 billion in the third quarter of 2010 to $2.113 billion in the same period this year.
According to Nielsen, the “healthy growth across mainstream media” exceeds $5 billion in the third quarter of 2011 for the entire region.
“The growth in advertising spending coupled with strong consumer confidence within the region is promising a sign for Southeast Asia,” noted David Webb, Nielsen’s managing director of advertising solutions for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions. “Strong advertising growth in Southeast Asia over the past year underlines the region’s resilience amidst global economic uncertainty and increasing spend in markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines echoes sentiment within the region that local economies are still thriving and capable of withstanding external shocks.”
Nielsen’s revealed that total advertising spending across the region rose by 3 percent in the third quarter of 2011 compared to that of the second quarter.
The latest quarter result was also higher by 16 percent than the level in the third quarter of 2010.
After Indonesia and the Philippines, the island state of Singapore came in as the third-strongest in ad spending growth in the region, with a rate of 10 percent, from $341 million in 2010 to $375 million.
According to the Nielsen Index, growth in advertising spend across mainstream media around the region was driven largely by television and newspapers.
Television advertising spend increased 5 percent quarter on quarter in the third quarter and 17 percent compared to year-ago level. In the meantime, newspapers—which experienced flat quarter-on-quarter growth in the third quarter—posted a 14-percent growth year on year.
Haircare, telecommunications and government department categories were the major sectors that contributed to ad spending growth across the Southeast Asian region.
Unilever topped the list of the region’s highest-spending advertisers in the third quarter of 2011.
“While marketers throughout the region grapple with the challenge of spreading advertising budgets across a growing number of media platforms, television continues to demonstrate its unmatched ability to reach the masses, and technological developments such as HDTV, IPTV, TV on-demand and time-shifted viewing are all contributing to the ongoing appeal of television,” Webb said.
“As we look to the year ahead, the common challenge of allocation of advertising spend will again be at the forefront of marketers’ minds and all media, traditional and emerging, must look for ways to maintain audiences and demonstrate ROI [return on investment] in order to earn their share of advertising dollars,” he added.
The Nielsen Southeast Asia Advertising Index is produced on a quarterly basis to highlight key trends in advertising spend throughout the region. Main media reported at a regional level are: free to air TV, newspapers and magazines.
Data was collated at a local currency level and converted to US dollars using the official exchange rate as of November 2011.
Nielsen Holdings N.V. is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties. Nielsen has presence in about 100 countries, with headquarters in the USA and the Netherlands.