All Regions But Europe Record Increase In Q1 Ad Spend

All regions but Europe saw a rise in advertising expenditure in the first three months of the year, recording a 4.4% decline as economic growth on the old continent remained subdued.

Europe’s advertising industry is unlikely to head for recovery soon as it continues to face challenges stemming from the uncertain economic environment, global researcher Nielsen said in its Global Adview Pulse Report. But while ad spend in the rest of the world remained in positive territory, the growth was either insignificant or stayed unchanged, resulting in a global improvement rate of just 1.9% for the quarter.

The report, which measures ad spending for TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, cinema and Internet display advertising revealed that ad spend in North America remained flat in the three-month period.

Latin America was the best performer in terms of advertising expenditure, seeing a leap of 11.9%. The growth was recorded in all countries, but still the region continued to experience its own challenges, particularly rising unemployment and high inflation in Argentina.

Asia Pacific also fared well, enjoying a rise of 5.8%, with some countries such as China, Indonesia and the Philippines even exceeding the region’s growth rate and registering increases of some 20%.

After suffering a drop in ad spend since early 2012, the Middle East and Africa managed to reverse the downtrend and score a modest increase of 2.9%. Growth was held back by civil unrest in Egypt, one of the region’s biggest markets, where the figure was down 20%.