Kantar Media publishes its annual review of advertising

The market for advertising investment saw moderate growth in 2011, to 27.8 billion euros Whilst the market recovered in 2010, achieving growth of 10.2%, 2011 saw a positive but moderate increase of 5.2% all media combined. 2011 was a year of contrasts, with significant disparities in the performance of different sectors and different media. The first half of 2011 was encouraging (+7.1%), particularly in the first two months of the year, which recorded double-digit growth. This was followed by a marked slowdown from June onwards, however (+2.3% in the second half), and a difficult end to the year as figures fell back in December. A number of advertisers have adopted a cautious approach and are gradually cutting back on media spend. Corinne in Albin, Ad Intelligence Marketing Director for Kantar Media France explains: In spite of contrasting results for different media in 2011 and a slowdown towards the end of the year, the advertising market has increased in value. With gross investment of 9.4 billion euros and an increase of +6%, television made the biggest contribution to the advertising market, primarily thanks to DTT channels. Overall, television accounted for almost 39% of multimedia growth in 2011.

Top 10 sectors and advertisers: significant shifts in the rankings

Retail was the most dynamic sector, accounting for 13.6% of multimedia advertising investment. Specialist retailers saw the largest increases, with +17.5% compared with +13% for generalist stores. The automotive sector grew less quickly, with an increase of +2.9%. The culture & leisure sector moved up one place in 2011, representing 8.5% of investment in advertising. Food, however, dropped to fourth place, at 8.3%: a real upheaval for the sector, which has traditionally been in the top three for advertising investment but saw a significant drop in 2011 (-4.1%). The number of advertisers remained stable, with 38,038 active in the market, an increase of +0.2%.

The media in 2011: contrasting levels of growth

With an overall increase of +5.2%, all media achieved growth except for outdoor advertising. Three increased faster than the market average, namely display advertising, radio and television. Television topped the rankings, with +6% growth and 9.4 billion euros gross of advertising investment. Growth was mainly boosted by DTT channels. Digital terrestrial television is continuing to expand, posting growth of +28.4%, compared with a decrease for traditional channels of -1.2%.

The internet performed well, with growth of +7.6% to reach a total of almost 3.5 billion euros of advertising investment. The internet attracts a large number of advertisers, with 4,972 active advertisers in 2011, stable compared with 2010. Culture and leisure leads the display advertising sector in terms of investment, followed by financial institutions and car manufacturers. Radio benefited from the favourable environment and a second half driven by back-toschool offers to record growth of +6.2%, to a total of 4.1 billion euros in 2011. Generalist, music, themed and local stations all benefited from the additional business. The press has remained stable in spite of some contrasts: whilst free daily newspapers have maintained strong growth (+24.3%), national dailies and magazines have grown slightly (+3.5% and +2.2% respectively). Outdoor advertising attracted 2.7 billion euros of investment over the whole of 2011, a slight drop of -0.6%. In general terms, advertisers prioritised local (+2.4%) over national advertising for reasons related to catchment areas. Finally, cinema this year was boosted by extensive news coverage, which explains its strong growth of +27.1%. Cinema advertising attracted 234 investors.