Australian retail breaks advertising spending record: Nielsen

Motor vehicles, travel, and insurance companies amped up their advertising spend during 2023, but retail had a record year, as Nielsen reveals Australia’s Top 20 categories by ad spend for the year.

Retail was far and away the top advertising sector across the nation, despite the interest crunch hitting discretionary purchases, with a combined spend for the year of $2.56 billion – a record amount.

Communications companies were second, with $818 million, followed by motor vehicles spend, up 10% from 2022 to hit $661 million.