While UK television and newspapers reported a decline in ad revenues during the Olympics, Internet ad spend was up for the same period.
Spend on television advertising fell by £200m during the summer period, which included the London Olympics, but Internet ad spend remained buoyant: up 10.9% year on year, which is in line with Internet ad spend levels throughout 2012.
As predicted the major Olympic winner was outdoor advertising, which includes billboards, taxis, posters and buses. This reported an increase in revenues of 25.4% year on year in the three month period to the end of September 2012. This is the biggest rise in the outdoor sector since 2000.
Spend on television advertising fell 7.2% year on year during the summer period: over £200m less than brands invested in the second quarter.
Total revenues for UK press advertising, including national and regional newspapers and magazines, were down 9.6% year on year during the third quarter of 2012. This was slightly better than the fall in the second quarter of 11.7% and the drop of 10% in the first quarter.
While brands put money into television advertising during Euro 2012 in the second quarter: mostly ITV, they pulled many millions of spend over the London Olympics as viewers watched the ad-free BBC in large numbers.
The fall of over £200m in television advertising spend was the largest factor in the total UK ad spend growth being just 0.8% growth during the third quarter of 2012. This is according to a report published today, Wednesday January 16th, by the Advertising Association and the research company Warc. The total ad growth in the UK in the second quarter was 3.8%.
However, the UK figures were in sharp contrast to declining advertising markets across western Europe.
A Nielsen report estimates that the Eurozone crisis resulted in an average cut in ad spend across western Europe of 4.8% year on year during the third quarter of 2012.
In the UK, the Olympics failed to give national papers a year on year uplift in revenue growth, with ad revenue dropping 4.8% during the third quarter.
However, this is a great improvement on the 10.6% and 10.1% declines in the first and second quarters of 2012.
Regional newspaper advertising dropped 12.5% year on year during the Olympic quarter. In the first quarter, regional spend was down 11.7% and in the second 13.8%.
What is good to see is that Internet ad spend remained healthy.
The Advertising Association predicts that the UK advertising market will grow 3.1% year on year in 2013. Television will grow 2.1%, radio 3% and the Internet 9.7%.
Outdoor advertising will drop by 2.8%, largely due to year on year comparisons with the growth of 2012, while press will fall 3.5% and cinema will drop 3.5%.
What these figures highlight is the continued growth of and move towards Internet advertising. For businesses this means that having an online marketing strategy is more crucial than ever before.
With more businesses advertising online it is essential that you dedicate resource and investment to online marketing.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/16/olympics-boost-outdoor-advertising-london