Australia’s advertising spend recovery lagged behind the US, UK, New Zealand and Canada in the first quarter of 2021, as marketing in those four markets returned to pre-COVID-19 numbers.

Ad spend between January and March across the five comparable markets rose 4 per cent on the first quarter of 2020 and 1 per cent on the 2019 first quarter, according Standard Media Index, which tracks advertising spend from media agencies, but does not account for direct spend.