Malaysia's Advertising Market Records A One Percent Contraction In The First Half Of 2009

24 July 2009
Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian advertising market has recorded a total spending of RM 2.9 billion* in the first half of 2009—a decline of one percent compared to the same period last year. According to the latest Nielsen Advertising Information Services (AIS) report (where advertising figures are based on published rate card), the growth in Terrestrial TV (+6%), Radio (+10%), Outdoor (+16%), Point-of-Sale (+7%) and Internet** (+12%) has helped to off-set the decline in adspend for Newspaper (-5%), Magazine (-11%) and Cinema (-10%).

Newspapers and Terrestrial TV continue to command the bulk of total advertising across the media measured—at 54 percent and 35 percent respectively, followed by Radio (5%), Magazines (2%) and Outdoor (2%) (see Table 1).

Despite the overall decline in adspend for Newspaper, the RM1.6 billion in ad revenue was contributed by increased spending by local government institutions, hypermarket and university categories. Terrestrial TV advertising for the first half of this year stands at RM1.0 billion, and its growth was the result of increased spending by categories such as beauty salon/hairdresser, local government institutions, theme park/race circuit and growing up milk powder.

Radio adspend hit RM149 million, contributed by growth in spending by the tourism authority, electrical retail, and health food drink categories. For Point of Sale, the top growth categories are spices/sauces and biscuits/bread, while financial services, household appliances and Internet provider categories drive Outdoor growth.

Despite a decline in overall adspend in classifieds and mobile line service categories, they remain the largest spending categories for the first half of 2009, while top growth categories are local government institutions, hypermarkets and university.

”Although Malaysia’s advertising market saw a slight decline in the first half of this year, second quarter spending remains on par with the same period last year. Increased spending in government awareness campaigns on dengue and H1N1 influenza, social messages and national service campaigns, and continued spending on local events like the Malaysia Grand Prix and new product and service launches have helped in maintaining advertising spending in the second quarter,” commented Wong Mae Suen, Associate Director, Media Group, The Nielsen Company.

Among the top advertising categories in the first half of this year, Classified Ads—at RM300 million, continue to dominate, followed by mobile line services (RM133 million) and local government institutions (RM129 million). University moved into fifth position in the top category ranking, with an increased spending of 40 percent compared to the same time last year when several colleges were upgraded to university status (see table 2)

New entrants to the top category list are hypermarket, tonic & vitamin and fast food outlets. In line with the government’s call to lower prices in the current economy slowdown, hypermarkets responded with price slash campaigns that saw this category move in to sixth position. Tonic & vitamins climbed to seventh position; a boost given by new product campaigns, while promotions on value meals in response to the economic slowdown as well as new product launches helped drive fast food category up to eighth position (see table 2).

FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) advertisers were the biggest spenders, with Unilever (RM74 million) assuming top position, followed by Procter & Gamble and Nestle at second and fourth position respectively. Among Telecommunication companies, Celcom (RM51 million) still leads, and is the third largest advertiser in the first half of this year. TM recorded an increase adspend by 50 percent to total RM35 million, as a result of promotional advertising in their product categories such as Internet provider and phone cards, and corporate advertising (see table 3).

Glaxo Smithkline entered the Top 10 advertiser ranking in sixth position, driven mainly by promotional advertising across the main media. At tenth position is another new entrant, Kementerian Kesihatan (Ministry of Health), which, in response to the H1N1 influenza epidemic and dengue cases, increased its advertising budget five-fold to hit RM27 million (see table 3).

“This is indeed a challenging time for all sectors, the advertising market notwithstanding. However, the recent economic reforms and liberalization of the financial sector is expected to soften the economic slowdown,” added Ms Wong.

Table 1

Notes:

~Nielsen measures advertising expenditure based on published rate cards, except for Outdoor adspend which is based on actual spending.

1 Nielsen monitors advertising expenditure on terrestrial television only.

2 Outdoor adspend is based on actual spending by five media operators.

3 Internet adspend measurement began in 2008, based on website spending from Yahoo, MSN, Forbes, Utusan sites and Sin Chew sites, and The Star sites (starting 2009)

Table 2

Table 3

About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com

* All advertising figures are based on published rate card, except outdoor which is based on actual billings.

** Internet adspend measurement began in 2008, based on website spending from Yahoo, MSN, Forbes, Utusan sites, Sin Chew sites and The Star sites (starting 2009).