Media spending rankings for the first half of 2016 [with a list of major advertisers]

▌Analysis of traditional media advertising trends

Calculated by rate of publication, traditional media fell by 6.2%, the largest drop in recent years. Five years ago, in the first half of 2011, China's traditional media advertising still achieved a year-on-year growth of 14.3%, but such a boom has not been seen since then. Although it rebounded to 8.3% in the first half of 2013, it has basically been on a downward trend. The first year-on-year decline occurred in the first half of 2015 (-5.7%), and the decline this year has been even greater.

Looking at each media, except for radio, which turned from negative to positive (from -2.9% to an increase of 2.9%), all other traditional media are declining. The decline in television subscription revenue was smaller, but it was 0.4 percentage points higher than the -3.4% in the same period last year. In addition, due to the huge volume of television advertising, it has a very obvious drag on the growth of overall advertising spending. The newspaper bleeding shows no signs of stopping: advertising spending on newspapers continues to fall sharply and rapidly, with advertising revenue falling 41.4% in the first half of this year, nearly 10 percentage points more than the -32.1% in the same period last year.

What’s worse is that the top five industries in terms of newspaper advertising spending have all significantly reduced their newspaper advertising spending. The disappearance of magazine advertising is also accelerating: in the first half of last year, magazine advertising spending fell by -15.6% year-on-year, and in the first half of this year it reached -29.4%. Spending on traditional outdoor advertising also turned from positive to negative: from a 3.9% increase in the first half of last year to a 3.6% decrease.

From the perspective of advertisers, the proportion of traditional media advertising revenue coming from healthcare and pharmaceutical companies/brands is increasing. Among the top 20 manufacturers in terms of traditional media spending in the first half of the year, we can see that eight of them saw an increase in advertising spending of more than 30%, six of which were pharmaceutical companies. Among them, Inner Mongolia Hongmao Medicinal Wine increased significantly by 121.8%, making it into the top five.

Several well-known fast-moving consumer goods companies are significantly reducing their advertising spending on traditional media, such as Unilever (No. 4, -17.7%), Yum China (No. 10, -48.4%), Dali Foods (No. 15, -28.8%) and Mars Foods (No. 16, -34%). The only exception is PepsiCo (China): its traditional media advertising expenditure increased by 144.8% in the first half of the year, ranking 18th.

The growth of healthcare and pharmaceutical brands in the field of television advertising is particularly obvious. Among the top five industries in terms of advertising spending, only the advertising spending in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector has increased for two consecutive years (24.4% in the first half of 2015 and 25.3% in the first half of 2016). Other industries have either turned from positive to negative, such as beverages (3% vs. -13.6%) and food (3.5% vs. -7.9%), or continued to shrink (-24.4% vs. -9.9%) and commercial and service industries (-9.2% vs. -18.7%).

Among the top 10 brands in terms of TV advertising spending in the first half of the year, 6 are health and pharmaceutical brands. Not only did health care and pharmaceutical brands occupy the top four spots, but spending also increased by more than 30%, with the highest reaching nearly 170% (No. 4, Xiangdanqing, up 169.5%).

▌Analysis of new media advertising trends

Compared with traditional media, advertising growth in the new media sector has accelerated. In addition to traffic videos, Internet, commercial building videos and cinema videos have all grown faster than a year ago.

In the Internet advertising sector, which accounts for the largest proportion, except for the transportation industry, the advertising spending growth rates of the top five industries are all increasing, among which the growth of "computers and office automation products" (77.4%) and the financial industry (94.1%) is particularly prominent.

In terms of the growth of commercial building advertising spending, the top five industries all increased their investment, with the lowest being the computer and office automation products industry, which also grew by 16.2%. The postal and telecommunications industry, which is dominated by website brands, not only spent the most, but also grew significantly faster than other industries, reaching 174%. The top three brands with the largest advertising volume are Nongfu Spring (98.3%), Tuniu (163.5%) and JD.com (an astonishing 784.9%!). There are three new brands among the top ten brands, namely Fangtianxia, ​​Guazi Used Car Direct Sales and Yizhibo .

Although the growth rate of China's movie box office in the first half of this year has dropped to 21% from 48% in the same period last year, the growth of cinema video advertising spending has shown no signs of slowing down. Instead, it has accelerated from 54.2% in the first half of last year to 77.1%. The postal and telecommunications industry, which is mainly based on websites, still leads the top five industries in terms of spending, with an increase of 219.4%; and the advertising spending growth rate of all the top five industries is above 35%. Among the top ten brands, the top two, Xiaomi and CAR, both saw spending increases of more than 10 times. In addition, there were three new brands on the list (Youku Tudou, Lufax and Inke ), and one brand saw a decline in spending (10th place, Marubi, -18.4%).

Further reading: Comparison of data analysis in May 2016

The latest research from CTR Market Research shows that the traditional advertising market in May 2016 fell by 8.6% year-on-year, reaching the largest monthly decline so far this year.

Media spending

Data source: CTR Market Research-Media Intelligence

In May 2016, TV ad spending fell 6% year-on-year, approaching its lowest point in February. Advertising spending on TV channels at all levels showed varying degrees of decline, with advertising spending on provincial terrestrial channels falling slightly by 0.7% year-on-year, advertising spending on central and provincial satellite channels falling by 8.7% and 9.0% year-on-year respectively, and the advertising spending on provincial capital city stations fell the most significantly, reaching 21.2%. The duration of TV advertisements decreased by 5.8% year-on-year, while the duration of advertisements on central-level channels increased by 1.8% year-on-year, making it the only channel level at all levels to show year-on-year growth. Among the top five industries with the largest investment volumes, the beverage industry saw a 14% year-on-year decrease, but its investment volume ranked first in the industry list.

In terms of print media , newspaper advertising spending in May fell 46.3% year-on-year, and resource volume decreased 46.9% year-on-year. Advertising spending in the top five industries has dropped significantly compared to last year, with the real estate/construction industry, which ranks first on the list, seeing a 53% year-on-year drop in advertising spending. Advertising spending for magazine media decreased by 32.4% year-on-year, and resource volume decreased by 40.6% year-on-year, both of which were the lowest this year.

In May, radio media experienced its first decline of the year, with advertising spending down 1.9% year-on-year and resource volume down 10.6% year-on-year. Among the top five industries with the largest advertising spending, advertising spending in the transportation industry decreased by 3% year-on-year, and its advertising spending ranked first on the list, up one place from last month. Advertising spending in the postal and telecommunications industry was basically the same as the same period last year, while advertising spending in the financial industry increased by 11% year-on-year, making it the only industry among the top five industries in radio advertising that saw an increase in advertising spending.

Traditional outdoor advertising spending decreased by 8.6% in May compared with the same period last year, and resource volume decreased by 11.6% year-on-year. Among the top five industries in terms of advertising spending, the postal and telecommunications industry still ranks first, with advertising spending increasing by 24% year-on-year. Advertising spending in the other four industries decreased by around 15% year-on-year.

Industry investment situation

Data source: CTR Market Research-Media Intelligence

Data source: CTR Market Research-Media Intelligence

Data source: CTR Market Research-Media Intelligence

Data source: CTR Market Research-Media Intelligence

In May, the postal and telecommunications industry ranked at the top of advertising placement lists in multiple traditional media. In the newspaper and radio advertising rankings, the advertising ranking of the postal and telecommunications industry rose by one place compared to last month. Among them, advertising spending on newspaper media decreased by 37% year-on-year, while advertising spending on radio media remained basically the same as the same period last year.

The advertising expenditures for websites, communication products and mobile network services in the postal and telecommunications industry are relatively high. Many website brands such as Fangtianxia and Tmall , as well as mobile network service brands such as China Mobile Communications and China Telecom, are ranked at the top of the brand lists of various media.

The advertising spending on television media by the cosmetics/bathroom products industry has increased for two consecutive months, with a large amount of advertising for shampoo/hair care/hair care products and skin care products. Advertising expenditures for shampoo/hair care/skin care products in traditional media increased by 38% year-on-year and 9% month-on-month, while advertising expenditures for skin care products in traditional media increased by 13% month-on-month.

Brand placement

Although the 418 e-commerce war has passed, the melee among major e-commerce brands is still fierce. In May, Tmall’s spending on traditional outdoor advertising did not decrease, and it ranked first on the list with a month-on-month increase of 90%. JD.com followed closely behind, with advertising spending increasing by 181% year-on-year and decreasing by 44% month-on-month. In contrast, Suning.com's advertising spending on traditional outdoor advertising decreased by 41% year-on-year, and it failed to make the top ten in the traditional outdoor advertising list. As for newspaper media advertising, Suning.com's advertising expenditure decreased by 55% year-on-year and 59% month-on-month, ranking fifth on the newspaper media advertising list.

The hot summer is approaching, and many cosmetics brands are gearing up to promote their summer products. Mentholatum's traditional outdoor advertising expenditure in May increased by 92% month-on-month, ranking fifth on the traditional outdoor media placement list. Its sunscreen product Mentholatum Sunscreen Outdoor Sunscreen Lotion had the highest advertising expenditure, up 341% from the previous month. Also a sunscreen product, the advertising expenditure of Wen Biquan's 0-motion sunscreen also increased by 75% compared with last month. It can be seen that skin care brands are ready for the arrival of summer.

Data source: CTR Market Research-Media Intelligence