PWC- Australia Ad Market Softens

Prospects for Australia's advertising market are noticeably softening, a trend set to harm print titles but doing little to halt the internet's rapid expansion, a study has argued.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the advisory group, estimated in a new report that adspend levels will post a compound annual growth rate of 2.8% a year to 2016, rising from A$12.5b to A$14.1bn.

This can be measured against the 4.4% yearly uptick outlined by PwC in the corresponding piece of research last year. It also lags behind an anticipated 7.3% improvement globally every 12 months.

Free-to-air television was pegged to witness a lift of 1.8% per year to A$3.5bn by the end of the forecast period, a consequence less of falling viewing figures and more of changing demands upon the industry.

"Content is getting more and more expensive, especially the stuff that is appointment viewing. TV networks need to reach out a little bit more on the restructuring front [and] look at what the newspaper companies are doing," said Megan Brownlow, PwC's executive director.
slows to some 29.2% in 2016, when the medium yields A$90m.

Video advertising is also predicted to attain a value of A$192m in 2016, from a starting point of under A$100m this year.

Data sourced from B&T/Fast Company; additional content by Warc staff, 31 July 2012