Nine’s ad revenue surged during the Olympics while overall market spend fell
Guideline SMI’s July 2024 ad demand data shows how the Paris Olympics boosted the market, with Nine Entertainment’s ad revenues surging despite only six days of Olympic events.
The significant shift in ad spend toward Nine occurred in a market with weaker demand, as total bookings dropped 7.8% from last year’s record July ad spend.
Consequently, all major media reported lower ad spend, except for audio media, which saw 0.1% growth when combining linear and digital radio revenues.
Guideline SMI APAC managing director Jane Ractliffe said the Olympics had created an abnormal month for ad spend, with bookings moving to the host broadcaster.
“The strength of Nine’s Olympics broadcast and the success of so many Australians at the Games has clearly moved an abnormal amount of revenue to the Nine group in July, and with more Olympic broadcast days falling in August, that trend will continue next month,’’ she said.
“At the same time, it seems advertisers not associated with the Olympics have decided to reduce their media investment, and that’s led to another month of lower bookings.”
In July, the Government category led the major product sectors with a 61.2% surge in ad bookings, with Linear TV capturing nearly 30% of that spend.
Retail advertising also saw strong growth (+12.4%), as did automotive brands (+5.8%). However, these gains were offset by significant declines in ad demand from the communications and media sectors.
“We can see there is a two-speed ad market developing as the product categories delivering growth are growing that media investment in the high double-digit range, and that’s meant that on a combined basis, the largest growth categories have lifted revenues 9.8% this month – way outpacing the broader market,’’ Ractliffe added.
Guideline’s calendar year-to-date results show total demand back just 1.5%, with outdoor showing the largest gain of 5.1% followed by cinema (+3.9% YOY) and digital (+3.6%).
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