The price war within the optical industry has led to significantly higher investments in media. Specsavers increased the budget in the last twelve months by 80% to more than € 19 million. At €14.5 million, Pearl spent one and a half times as much in the same period as a year earlier. Total gross media spending by opticians increased by 37% in the period November 2013 to October 2014 to almost € 52 million. This is evident from figures from Nielsen.
The increased gross media spending is the result of the price war that rages between optical chains. In their campaigns they try to entice consumers with different variants of age discounts, discounts on branded frames or through direct price comparisons between opticians.
Besides Specsavers and Pearl, Hans Anders also spent more. Media spending increased by 34% to almost €8 million. EyeWish also spent almost €8 million in the period November 2013 to October 2014, but that was only 6% more than a year earlier. Eyelove completed the top 5 advertisers within the optical industry. The online eyewear store spent more than € 1.4 million on media.
Television and radio have a joint share of almost 85%
The battle between the different opticians mainly took place on television. Two-thirds of the media expenditure, or €34.4 million, was spent on this medium type in the period November 2013 to October 2014. That is 52% more than in the same period a year earlier. Radio, which saw spending increase by 8% to € 9 million, together with television accounted for almost 85% of the total media spending of the optical chains.
Spending on the other media types also increased, with the doubling of media spending to €1.7 million out of home. However, the proportion of this medium type was limited at 3%.
