WARC: TV accounts for 35% of global ad spend

TV accounts for 24% of daily media consumption but 35% of global advertising spend, according to marketing intelligence service WARC’s first Global Ad Trends Report.

The study claims that across 12 key global markets – which between them account for roughly two-thirds of the value of global ad trade – TV drew 34.9% of global ad spend last year, some US$141.8 billion.

This is down from a peak of 40.5% in 2010, but is just a 0.9 point dip over the decade, with budget allocation to TV remaining consistent in recent years.

By analysing more than 600 case studies, WARC found that successful high-budget campaigns of US$10 million or more allocate 66% of their media spend to TV, and said that Financial services and alcoholic drinks brands are “most TV-led”.

Low budget campaigns of up to US$500,000, on the other hand, allocate on average just 8% of ad spend to TV and the vast majority to digital, while mid budget campaigns of US$500,000-US$10 million spend anything between 25% and 60% on TV ads.

Data from WARC’s Media Inflation Forecast – a survey of global media agencies – said that the cost-per-thousand (CPM) for a 30-second TV spot is expected to rise by an average 5% on a global basis next year.

WARC expects TV CPM in the US to rise with the global average, and in developing markets like India and China to rise “well ahead of the global average”.

Rounding up the ‘importance of TV’, WARC said it accounts for 24% of daily media consumption, 35% of global ad spend, 47% of global display ad spend, 66% of successful high-budget campaigns and 88% of global video spend.

“The advertising industry increasingly relies on factual and evidenced data to make business decisions on a daily basis,” said James McDonald, data editor, WARC.

“With the launch of our monthly Global Ad Trends Report, which is included as part of our newly enhanced data platform, we will provide the latest independent, objective and unbiased information drawn from actual figures rather than modelled or estimated data.”

The 12 key markets identified in the WARC report are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States.

Separately, a new report by Videology – a software provider for converged TV and video advertising – found that US spend on linear TV campaigns using advanced data grew 60% for the first three quarters of 2017. This was based on campaigns done via the Videology platform.