Standard Media Index

New Zealand’s media agency market remained steady in February, back just 0.7% to $87.8 million as growth in Billboards and Digital Display, buoyed by the Winter Olympics, offset falls elsewhere.

Key highlights are as follows:

• Outdoor media ad spend grew 7.6% YOY to $19.3 million, making it the second largest media by spend for the first time.

• Digital bookings are so far back 1.3% but Digital Display gained 7.6% mostly due to a 30.2% increase in Olympic-related bookings to Video Sites which almost offset a large decline in Search

• Television was back 7.9% year-on-year despite the benefits from the Winter Olympics boost, with free-to-air demand slipping 9.2% and Subscription TV sales up 14.5%, mostly due to the Olympics boost

• Metropolitan and National Newspapers also grew share in February, up 25.4% and 6.0% respectively – pushing Newspapers overall to a 10.3% increase

• National Radio boosted Radio, up 5.9% YOY to keep overall Radio spend in growth (+5.3%)

• Magazine bookings slipped 11.6%

• Cinema advertising also slowed in February, back 36.5%

• Key categories supporting the market buoyancy this month included Government (+13.7%), Communications (+46.4%) and Insurance (+26.8%)

• But Retail ad demand fell 29.9%

• For the CYTD period the market is now up 0.2% with the most growth seen in Digital Display (+18.4%) and Billboards (+25.7%)

• For the FYTD total ad demand is back 2.3% as strong growth in Digital Display, Outdoor, Radio and Newspapers has not offset declines in FTA TV and Search.