Services Firms See Most Substantial Growth In Global Ad Spend

Global brands’ spending on advertising has seen humble growth so far this year, but certain industries are performing far better than others in terms of marketing investment. Recent results from Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report. It revealed that industry and services displayed the biggest growth in ad spending in the first quarter of the year, seeing investments go up by 8%.

Industry, agriculture and property were the segments recording the most substantial improvement within industry and services. Ad spending within these segments advanced 28.7% globally, bring its share in the ad spend market to 11.5%.

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) kept attracting substantial marketing investment in the quarter, enjoying a 6.1% increase and a market share of 20.1%. The drink subsector was again a major driver of global growth, with an increase of 9.7%. The spirits category performed notably well, scoring 36% growth. Nielsen also registered a 5.6% spike in spending on cosmetics and toiletries.

Advertisers in the finance and automotive sectors apparently stayed indifferent to the uptrend in spending, slashing their investment by 2.9% and 5.1%, respectively. Nielsen put the decline down to the uncertain economic environment in the Western world. The most substantial drop, at 23%, was observed in the auto sector, while advertising spend on investment and savings and card services slipped 14% in the financial industry.