Television continues to attract 70 percent of the ad investment from the soft drinks sector and about two-thirds in the food category, according to WARC Data’s “Global Ad Trends Report: Benchmarking Ad Investment By Product Category.” The report notes these sectors are more immune than other sectors to
Among the 19 product categories analyzed, WARC found that total global ad spend within the soft drink category reached $15.1 billion in 2018—just over a one percent increase year-over-year—$10.5 billion of which was spent on television and $1.9 billion on internet. Soft drinks $1.9 billion investment in internet has eroded television’s share of the sector spend by 4.4 percentage points over the five years to 2018.
Total global ad spend in the food category in 2018 reached $25.3 billion, $16.5 billion of which was spent on television, $3.7 billion on internet and $2.8 billion on print. While television spend in the sector rose one percent YOY, it has dipped by 3.7 percent each year since 2013 on a compound basis.
Additionally, the total global ad spend in retail in 2018 was flat at $62.3 billion. Internet spend in this sector increased 9.1 percent YOY, which was offset by a decline in spend for all other media, except out of home (up by 12.7 percent) and cinema (up by 4.9 percent).
As for financial services, total global ad spend in 2018 amounted to $43.2 billion, $19.7 billion of which was spent on internet and $12.9 billion on television. The findings suggest a dramatic shift to digital over the last five years, generally at the expense of print media. The shift in spend is most apparent within financial services and retail, sectors that have heavily developed digital platforms to deliver highly personalized and seamless experiences to customers in recent years.
Conversely, magazines still play a role in advertising toiletries and cosmetics as they invested $2.9 billion in the medium last year. The category’s total global ad spend was $25.7 billion, with television accounting for $14.9 billion and internet for $5.6 billion.
According to WARC Data’s managing editor, James McDonald, the most effective media mix requires a number of channels working in synergy. And he notes that the right data is critical to find that mix and maximize ROI.
Findings are based on a new measure of net ad investment data across 19 categories that WARC created with Nielsen. WARC worked from the macro level to calculate new gross totals across major categories. Thereafter, the totals were balanced using the net ad revenue data they received from the industry.
