Main Events

• Global online consumer confidence decreases three index points in Q2 2012 to 91
• Discretionary spending and saving decreased globally across all sectors, with more than two-thirds of consumers changing spending habits to save on expenses
• The Euro zone crisis continues to worsen, combined with a downward GDP revision from the economic powerhouse China

Main Facts

• Advertisers continue to spend cautiously during the first half of 2012, though budgets are on the upswing by +2.7%
• North America continues to trend positively, increasing ad budgets by 2.4%
• Europe, on the other hand, makes deeper cuts in advertising budgets—ending the first half of 2012 with a -2.7% decrease in spending vs. 1H 2011
  

Global ad spend totaled USD 266 billion in the first half of 2012, showing a 2.7 percent increase over the same period in 2011.  Increases were relatively contained when compared with the difficult first half of 2011, rife with natural disasters, political uprisings, and the ripple effects of financial crises in both Europe and the United States.

Clearly both advertisers and consumers are proceeding cautiously in an uncertain economic environment, where even economic powerhouses like China are facing downward GDP revisions and unprecedented advertising budget cuts. According to Nielsen, global consumer confidence decreased three index points in the second quarter to 91 amid worrying economic signals from Europe, China, and a stalled U.S. job market.

Though advertising budget cuts continue to run rampant in Europe (down -2.7% in 1H 2012 vs. 1H 2011), advertising expenditures in North America showed positive trends in the second quarter, ending the first half of 2012 with a +2.4 percent increase over a year earlier. The increase is in part attributable to a 12.4 percent increase in Industry & Services advertising during Q2, which includes government and political advertising in advance of the U.S. presidential election in November.