Nine Percent Growth in Malaysia's Advertising Market in First Six Months of 2007, Hitting RM2.4 Billion

31 July 2007
Kuala Lumpur

Gross advertising expenditure in Malaysia grew an encouraging nine percent in the first half of 2007 compared to the same period last year, closing at RM 2.4 billion, according to newly released figures by The Nielsen Company.

Newspapers and terrestrial television continue to secure the largest share of total adspend, at 59 percent and 29 percent respectively. This is followed by radio (5%), magazines (3%), outdoor (2%), point-of-sale (1%) and cinema (1%) (See Table 1)

The increase in adspend was seen across all media, with terrestrial television (+11%), radio (+19%), cinema (+27%) and point-of-sale (+36%) recording double-digit growth. Categories contributing to the overall growth in adspend include bank/finance, hair shampoo/conditioner, local government institutions, investment companies, automotive and tourism.

In the first half of 2007, adspend in newspapers grew by almost seven percent compared to the same time last year, reaching RM 1.4 billion. This growth was the result of increased ad spending in the bank/finance, local government institution, investment companies and residential estate categories.

The re-introduction of TV9 in 2006 helped fuel the overall increase in the terrestrial TV market. Categories contributing to the growth in this medium were hair shampoo/conditioner, tonic & vitamin, automotive, fast food and laundry detergents. Overall advertising spending on TV in the first six months of the year was RM 691 million.

Radio also maintained its strong performance from last year, posting 19-percent growth in adspend, reaching RM 111 million. A surge in spending in mobile line service, vehicles, tonic & vitamin and hypermarket categories was the catalyst for the double-digit growth for radio.

Across other media, advertising in point-of-sale benefited mostly from the increased spending in the spices/herbs/dressing, vehicle and laundry detergent categories while the main driver for cinema’s increase was advertising of mobile line services. The increase in Outdoor advertising is supported by financial service, vehicle and mobile line service categories.

By category, Classified Ads continue to dominate, with 11 percent growth, reaching RM 332 million in the first half of 2007 (see Table 2). The mobile line service category, with a total adspend of RM 163 million, remained in second place in spite of a decline in overall spending after a spike during the FIFA World Cup last year.

Ranked as the third largest category, local government institutions grew by 21 percent to reach RM 74 million (see Table 2 and 3). This growth was supported by increased spending on road safety and health from ministries such as Kementerian Pengangkutan, Kementerian Kesihatan and Kementerian Belia and Sukan.

The hair shampoo and conditioner category bounced back with 50 percent growth in the first half of 2007 and hit RM 53 million. This category also ranked the second fastest growth category as a result of a new entrant into the market, Clear, coupled with an increase in adspend by existing brands Rejoice and Sunsilk (see Table 2 & 3).

The mobile interactive services category continues to decline, however, registering a drop in adspend of 53 percent (see Table 2) mainly at the expense of newspapers. Leading this decline were Mobile Touchetek S/B, Maxis and Celcom tele-services.

Telecommunications brands continue to dominate by occupying the top four spots within the top 10 brands in the first half of 2007. DiGi, aggressively promoting its pre-paid service in newspapers and terrestrial television, managed to double its adspend to RM 74 million - overtaking Maxis and Celcom to assume the top position for the first time in the last five years (see Table 4).

Tourism Malaysia entered the top 10 ranking with total adspend of RM 14 million; the bulk of it was for Visit Malaysia Year 2007 and domestic travel campaigns on terrestrial television and newspapers (see Table 4).

DiGi is both the top spending brand and advertiser in the first half of 2007. Unilever Malaysia, the 2nd largest advertiser recorded an increase in adpsend of 50 percent to RM 55 million, as a result of new product launches in hair care and ice-cream (see Table 5). Kementerian Pengangkutan made its debut in the top 10 advertiser ranking in 10th position, with road safety campaigns totaling RM 19 million.

“With an expansion in the advertising market, and favourable growth in the Malaysian economy, advertiser sentiment has been positive in the first half of 2007,” said Andrea Douglas, Executive Director, Nielsen Media Research, Malaysia. “With activities such as Visit Malaysia 2007 and the nation’s 50th Independence anniversary, coupled with the anticipated strengthening of the economy in the second half of the year, adspend for the full year of 2007 is expected to out-perform that of last year,” added Ms. Douglas.

About Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research, a business unit of The Nielsen Company, is the world leader in international media research and analysis. It is active in 40 markets, offering advertising information services, consumer media consumption behavior, print readership, television and radio audience measurement and customized media research. Nielsen Media Research measures advertising expenditures and creative content in 30 of the world’s leading advertising markets. Through a network of affiliates, coverage is extended to more than 70 countries, representing 85 percent of the world’s advertising spending.

Nielsen Media Research practices the global standard of measuring adspend based on the tracking of published rate card values, while various advertising media are known to grant advertisers some levels of discounts.

About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company has more than 42,000 employees and is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.

Source: Nielsen AIS

Notes:

*Nielsen Media Research measures advertising expenditure based on published rate cards, except for Outdoor AdEx which is based on actual spending by five media operators.

1 Nielsen Media Research monitors advertising expenditure on terrestrial television only.

2 Outdoor contributors remain unchanged from 2006. Outdoor AdEx is based on actual spending by five media operators.

Source: Nielsen AIS

Table 3

Source: Nielsen AIS

Source: Nielsen AIS

Table 5

Source: Nielsen AIS