As the populace increasingly turns to online streaming platforms, terrestrial or free-to-air TV advertising is on the decline, based on recent figures which analyse the different broadcast mediums available.
Spending on adverts via commercial, metro, and regional free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters has fallen, while video-on-demand (VoD) platforms have increased, based on the latest figures published by marketing analysts ThinkTV.
During the Australian financial year ending June 2023, advertising fell by 7.9% on commercial FTA, 10.6% on metro FTA, and 4.7% on regional FTA. By stark comparison, advertisement spending rose by 6.1% across the online VoD platforms. The latter marks a growing trend for ad-supported video content.
Over the last several years there has been a boom in Australia’s streaming content market, following a surge in subscriptions for platforms like Netflix and Stan, over the last several years. According to first quarter 2023 data via Kantar strategic insights, 61.5% of Australian households now subscribe to at least one video streaming service.
Although there were around 1.1 streaming service cancellations in Q1 2023, there was also a net increase of 189,000 new subscriptions, indicating that Australians regularly compare the content and pricing options available. During the same period, Amazon Prime recorded the biggest increase, achieving 23% growth in subscriptions.
This continually increased move over to VoD platforms undoubtedly accounts for the shifts in advertising spending. While free-to-air spending does still account for the large majority of spending, accounting for almost $6.5 billion AUD, advertising on streaming platforms reached $392 million in 2023.
Data published by Nielsen Ad Intel has also listed the top 10 advertisers by spend in Australia, during the period between January and June 2023. Retail giant Harvey Norman topped the rankings, closely followed by McDonalds, then Woolworths Supermarkets and Reckitt Benckiser.
Fifth to seventh positions for ad spending were taken by Amazon, Stan Entertainment, and Telstra Corporation, all of whom offer streaming platforms. They were followed by KFC, Coles Supermarkets, and Chemist Warehouse. This indicates that retail and services continue to be proportionately the biggest spenders for TV advertising.
Intriguingly, there were no gambling companies featured in the top 10, and they weren’t even close to the spending by other sectors. This would appear to contrast with the heated debates in Australia about the perceived saturation of such advertising.
Gambling ads regularly featured include sports betting platforms, low deposit casinos and gaming sites, plus national and state lotteries. More than a million ads were aired on free-to-air TV and radio networks, based on Nielsen analytics between May 2022 and April 2023.
According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) estimates, some $162 million AUD was spent on free-to-air TV advertising by gambling companies. Alongside pressure from anti-gambling lobby groups, the government media watchdog is calling for increased restrictions on gambling ads.
Outright gambling advert bans have also been debated in the Australian parliament. However, any such kneejerk reactions are opposed by Free TV Australia chief executive, Bridget Fair. They would “ultimately hurt viewers and the television services they love,” she told The Guardian in October, advocating for a more reasoned approach like frequency caps.
Source: Story.KISSPR.com
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