After a boost in ad spending during Q3, advertisers show more caution in Q4, though 2011 still shows a 7.3% increase in spending vs. 2010. Both North America and Europe show declines in ad spend year-on-year for Q4, with the FMCG market cutting ad budgets. Looking at the whole of 2011 vs. 2010 however, North America shows a marginal increase in ad spending, while Europe declines by -0.4%. Download the report for more on global advertising trends.
2011 was a difficult year for the global economy, which was impacted by natural disasters, political uprisings, and the ripple effects of financial crises in both the U.S. and Western Europe. With Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S.’ AAA credit rating and the worsening eurozone sovereign debt crisis, it is no surprise that overall consumer confidence levels fell in 60 percent of global markets measured in Nielsen’s Q4 2011 Consumer Confidence Index. Though consumer confidence around the world increased one point to 89, confidence notably declined in 24 of 27 European markets.
The sentiment seemed to translate directly to the European advertising market, which decreased spending by -0.4 percent in 2011 compared with 2010.* Not surprisingly, though many Northern European advertising markets measured in this report marginally increased spending during 2011, larger decreases were seen in the Southern European markets of Greece (-13.1%), Italy (-4.0%), and Spain (-9.7%).
Though advertising in North America increased by a mere 1.8 percent in 2011 and showed a -0.6 percent decline year-on-year during Q4, there are signs that 2012 will be a better year for the advertising market. Consumer confidence jumped 6 points in the U.S. during the fourth quarter to 83 points, and the U.S. economy performed better than expected. “While Europe’s challenging economic conditions in the second half of 2011 bought renewed vulnerability and fragility to consumers and financial markets globally, some of the most positive news last quarter came from the world’s two largest economies—the U.S. and China—where confidence rebounded to Q1 2011 levels,” said Dr. Venkatesh Bala, Chief Economist at The Cambridge Group, a part of Nielsen. With U.S. presidential elections, the European Cup, and the London Olympics taking place later this year, analysts feel that advertisers will regain confidence and ad spending will see healthy increases in 2012.
The information included in this report has been compiled, harmonized and produced by Nielsen, Media Group, Global AdView. The Nielsen Global AdView Pulse reports on advertising expenditure for Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pan-Arab Media, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Download the report for more on global advertising trends.