Japanese adspend falls, Print the biggest losers

TOKYO: The effects of the tsunami, nuclear crisis and global economic volatility led Japanese marketers to cut their budgets in 2011, according to new figures from Dentsu.

The agency network said that overall main media adspend in the world's second-largest ad market dropped by 2.3% year-on-year, reaching 5,709.6bn yen ($71.2bn).

Within this total, TV, Japan's largest ad medium, dropped 0.5%, while newspapers and magazines fell 6.3% and 7% respectively. This was partially offset by a 4.1% rise in internet adspend.

Dentsu said that a variety of factors contributed to the overall decline, including the eurozone debt crisis, flooding in Thailand and appreciation of the yen.

But it was the tsunami of March 2011, and the subsequent nuclear accidents, which the network cited as the primary factor behind the cutbacks.

"After the earthquake and tsunami many companies cut back on their advertising activities out of respect for the victims of the disaster," Dentsu said in comments accompanying the data release.

According to latest Warc predictions, contained in the International Ad Forecast, Japanese adspend will return to growth in 2012.

The all-media total is forecast to rise 2.5%, with TV up 2.6% and internet rising 9.9%. 

Data sourced from Dentsu/Warc; additional content by Warc staff, 24 February 2012