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SMI: First quarter of outdoor spend exceeding print, as Nine retains lead over Seven

SMI

Spend on outdoor advertising has for the first time eclipsed revenues going to newspapers from media agencies in the first quarter of 2015, new data has revealed.

According to Standard Media Index (SMI), which measures main media agency ad spend, outdoor revenues for the first three months of the year of the year were $178.5m, up 16.1 per cent year on year, compared with $149.8m for newspapers.

Twelve months ago newspapers had $173.m in revenues from agencies, compared with outdoor’s $153.7m.

The results came in the same month that SMI showed Nine Network has retained its revenue advantage over rival Seven Network on the back of the Cricket World Cup and start of the NRL season, with Seven hit by the delayed start to the AFL season.

It is the second month in a row Nine had a revenue share above 40 per cent, with the TV Network reporting a 41 per cent revenue share for March, up on the 37.3 per cent it recorded for March 2014.

Last month Seven recorded a 37.2 per cent share, down 3 points on 2014, as it was weighed down by three fewer episodes of My Kitchen Rules in 2015 in March and the launch of the AFL season being delayed into April due to the cricket.  Ten had a 21.8 per cent, up 0.4 percentage points year on year on the back of an improved ratings run.

According to the SMI data media agency ad spend for both the month of March and the first quarter of 2015 were both at record highs, up 1.9 per cent at $653.4m for March.

Overall the first quarter of 2015 has seen the paid media market up 4.3 per cent on last year with a spend of $1.7bn.

In March the strongest performers were outdoor and radio. Outdoor advertising posted a 26.1 per cent increase in March recording sales of $68.7m compared with $54.5 in 2014.

Radio bookings were up 12 per cent to $55.5m while cinema was also up on the back on the earlier Easter holiday movie releases up 46.8 per cent to $5.4m.

Television spend was up 0.4 per cent to $310.3m, an increase of $1.2m, while digital was up 4 per cent to $133.8m.

In print both newspapers and magazines continue to see media agencies moving client spend away from them with declines of 15.8 per cent and 19.7 per cent year on year.

Earlier this week the newspaper industry launched an ad campaign aimed at arresting this collapse in print revenues with Newspaper Works CEO Mark Hollands yesterday acknowledging the challenge the industry faced in this space.

Media agencies spent $55.8m on newspapers in 2015 while magazines had a $19.934m.

Nic Christensen 

Next week Mumbrella is hosting its Spend and Trends breakfast with SMI in Sydney and Melbourne 

spendsandtrends

 

*A previous version of this story said that Ten share fell 0.4 per cent year-on-year this is incorrect. 

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