WARC releases 2019 Global Ad Trends report

Ad investment is shifting towards internet formats, but the rate at which that is happening depends on the sector; food and soft drinks, for example, still pour around two thirds of advertising investment into TV, a new WARC report points out.

The latest Global Ad Trends, from the newly relaunched WARC Data, focusses on benchmarking ad investment by product category, based on a new industry standard measure of net advertising investment data across 19 product categories in 23 markets, including the United States, United Kingdom and China.

Food and soft drinks are far less likely to have been disrupted by e-commerce, so the need for high levels of digital ad spend to facilitate a path to purchase is reduced, the report says.

On the other hand, the pivot to online advertising is particularly stark within financial services and retail, with both sectors having invested heavily in developing digital platforms to serve their customers in recent years.

Global Ad Trends highlights these trends and more in 11 of the 19 categories available to clients, including the following:

Food

• Total global ad spend in 2018: $25.3 billion (+1.4 per cent year-on-year)

• Median revenue ROI for successful campaigns: 2.93

• Media spend: TV $16.5 billion (+1.0 per cent year-on-year), Internet $3.7 billion (+7.9 per cent), Print $2.8 billion (-12.7 per cent) and Other $2.3 billion (+15.3 per cent).

• Ad/Sales ratio: Food (2.6 per cent), Confectionery (5.6 per cent), Dairy (0.6 per cent) and Meat, fish and poultry (0.7 per cent).

Soft drinks

• Total global ad spend in 2018: $15.1 billion (+1.1% per cent year-on-year)

• Median revenue ROI for successful campaigns: 2.84

• Media spend: TV $10.5 billion (+1.1 per cent year-on-year), Internet $1.9 billion (+28.3 per cent), OOH $1.3 billion (-24.1 per cent) and Other $1.4 billion (+1.3 per cent).

• Ad/Sales ratio: Soft drinks (5.9 per cent), Bottled water (5.9 per cent) and Carbonated (5.9 per cent).

Financial Services

• Total global ad spend in 2018: $43.2 billion (+13.0 per cent year-on-year)

• Median revenue ROI for successful campaigns: 2.93

• Media spend: Internet $19.7 billion (+24.4 per cent year-on-year), TV $12.9 billion (+4.0 per cent), Radio $3.7 billion (+5.1 per cent) and Other $7.0 billion (+6.7 per cent).

• Ad/Sales ratio: Financial services (3.6 per cent). Banks, credit, loans (6.7 per cent), Insurance (0.8 per cent) and Investment (1.5 per cent).

Retail

• Total global ad spend in 2018: $62.3 billion (+0.0 per cent year-on-year)

• Median revenue ROI for successful campaigns: 4.40

• Media spend: Internet $21.5 billion (+9.1per cent year-on-year), TV $20.3 billion (-0.6 per cent), Print $9.6bn (-15.5 per cent) and Other $10.9 billion (+0.8 per cent).

• Ad/Sales ratio: Retail 2.3 per cent, Clothing and fashion (2.9 per cent), Restaurants (2.0 per cent) and Supermarkets (1.2 per cent).

James McDonald, managing editor, WARC Data, and author of the research, commented, “In a multichannel world, it has become harder than ever to track campaign performance, to measure ROI, or to even trust third-party data. The problem is compounded by an environment of ad blocking, fraud, and consumer distrust, and is hazed by walled gardens, programmatic stacks and opaque practice. This results in millions of ad dollars wasted each year.”

“But, it is essential that ad investment works harder in the media mix to obtain optimal reach and effectiveness. As such, our latest research into product category insights provides vital data to help brand owners, agencies and media strategists and planners inform their decision making,” he said.

Read the full report here.