New data confirms that advertising spend on traditional channels has fallen amid both consumption changes and new behaviours from homebound consumers during the coronavirus crisis. This was despite the likes of Tesco, Aldi, Procter & Gamble and Unilever maintaining their advertising budgets.
Research by Nielsen shows that when Covid-19 hit the UK in March, total advertising spend on traditional channels – which includes TV, press, cinema, out of home and radio – fell 5% year-on-year to £586m.
The week of 23 March, when the country officially went into lockdown, saw a dramatic shift in advertising: spend on press fell by 38% to £15m, its lowest weekly figure in 2020. Following the temporary closure of cinemas nationwide, weekly spend on cinema declined by 94%, whilst spend on out of home (OOH) dropped by 22%, and radio declined by 20%.
Ad spend from the travel industry was the hardest hit (-48%), whilst the entertainment sector dropped by 17%. Telecoms spend decreased by 15% year-on-year, perhaps a surprise given the increased reliance on remote communication. These losses were not fully mitigated by rises from other sectors such as food, for which ad spend rose by 18% (£8.4m), government which increased its spend by 22% (£7.5m), and computing which saw increased ad spending of 41% (£3.7m).
With everyone in lockdown looking for ways to keep themselves occupied, sectors that cater to this ramped up their spend. During the week of 23 March, there was an increase in advertising spend for online retailing (+208%), mail order (+40%) and leisure equipment (+37%) as companies sought to sell products to time-rich housebound consumers.
While overall ad spend decreased, TV spend in March actually held up and increased by 4% to £412m for the total month, accounting for 70% of total advertising spend. Nielsen’s data showed that Unilever (£10m) and Procter & Gamble (£9.4m) were the top two TV advertisers in March. Meanwhile, NHS England spent £3.9m on TV advertising, while Asda, Aldi and Tesco spent £3.7m, £3m and £2.1m respectively.
Looking ahead, Barney Farmer, UK Commercial Director at Nielsen said: “It’s clear these March results represent just the beginning of the shifts in spend we will continue to see. The question of which ad sectors will return and how much advertising spend will be injected back into the market will depend on many factors – the most important of which will be the government’s guidance on what, when and how we can move about freely. The travel and tourism sectors, for example, which are typically big ad spenders will be waiting to see whether people can book or take summer holidays both at home and abroad. This will determine the marketing messages being run – or potentially lack of them.”
NAM Implications:
- Best anticipate that these trends will continue post lockdown…
- (can you really imagine it being any different?)
