Investments in the advertising market recorded a drop of 2,4% in the first half of the year, despite the +5,5% in June, due to the effect of the World Cup. The loss compared to the same period last year amounts to 80 million, 3,9% less. Alberto Dal Sasso, advertising information services business director of the Nielsen group which collected the data, ensures that the results are fully within expectations.
Nielsen focuses attention on the good results obtained in the month of June: if the television market grew by 36,2 million, newspapers also recorded a +1,6 million, followed by online advertising with 4,4 million more . The losers are the periodicals, which have left 3 million on the street, followed by almost 5 from the radio.
However, the results for the entire semester tell another truth. Again Da Sasso points out that TV registers only +1,3%, while the web is even. For the press, the collapse continues, with advertising investments in magazines and newspapers falling by 11% and 10,4% respectively. Radio also loses, -2,9%.
"The recession, the negative GDP for the second consecutive quarter, Moody's estimate of a -0,1% year-end growth for the national economy, the recent deflationary signs" will have, says Dal Sasso, a some impact on the advertising turnover. The comparison with 2010 data, when the World Cup was held in South Africa, underlines how the market reacts very flexibly on the occasion of important media events, but at the same time confirms the persistence of an economic stalemate spread across all sectors, hence the advertising it is certainly not exempt.
In the advertising six-month period, increases were recorded in the commodity sectors, where food was up by 3%, an important figure compared to the double-digit negative in 2013. Distribution and finance recorded increases of 5,6% and 17,1 .2013%, while telecommunications worsened the already bad performance of 10,3 when there were losses of 5%. Finally, the automotive sector also lost, touching a negative 20%. The 22 most important investors of the Italian advertising market, which alone cover 4,8% of the budget, close the half year with a loss of 20%. The reason lies in the bad results of telecommunications, "net of which - explains Nielsen - the 1,5 top spenders would have grown by XNUMX%".
Dal Sasso cools down the forecasts for the 2014 advertising market. To close the year in balance, the second quarter should show a +2,9%, which, net of unpredictable events, does not seem a realistic forecast. Only with the autumn results will it be possible to understand in which direction the 2014 advertising market will close. Possible forecasts, however, vary between -2 and -3%.
