Digital tops ad market for first time as Australian Open drags TV down

Advertisers spent more on digital than any other media type during January, marking the first time that digital has topped ad spending in Australia.

Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles final at the delayed 2021 Australian Open. Picture: Getty Images.

Advertisers spent more on digital than any other media type during January, marking the first time that digital has topped ad spending in Australia, as a delayed Australian Open dragged on Nine.

Overall advertising spending dropped in January following the Australian Open’s three-week delay, which hit TV broadcaster Nine and halted the market’s recovery in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Media agency ad spend dropped 7.3 per cent compared to January 2020 as the metropolitan TV market reported a 5.3 per cent fall in bookings due to the Australian Open delay, which hit Nine Network’s first-quarter TV schedule, according to Standard Media Index.

“The delay of the Australian Open broadcast was clearly a one-of factor but had a significant

impact, and beyond that the market seemed to be pausing for breath after all the marketing

activity in the last quarter of 2020,” SMI local boss Jane Ractliffe said.

“But we can see that February demand is already in line with that evident before the start of the COVID pandemic last year, while for March the total demand is running at 4 percentage points above the same time last year while for April demand is already 7 percentage points higher.’’

SMI said digital media was the standout in January, reporting year-on-year growth of 1.8 per cent as social media, programmatic and video sites markets continued to report double digit percentage growth.

As a result, digital media emerged as the largest media in national marketer ad spend for the first time, according to SMI.

“Given the likely return to television growth for the rest of Q1 it will be interesting to see if this trend lasts beyond a single month, but at least for now the lack of the Australian Open combined with continued digital gains has seen the digital media emerge as Australia’s largest this month,’’ Ractliffe said.

Last year, ad spending dropped 15 per cent from the prior year following double digit falls across the majority of segments as companies slashed spending during the coronavirus crisis.

The cinema industry recorded the biggest drop in ad spending, down 67.9 per cent in December from a year earlier, followed by the magazine and outdoor markets, which were down 4.24 per cent and 38.4 per cent respectively.