Christopher Hughes
Research expert covering Australia and New Zealand
Retail media in Australia - statistics & facts
Globally, digital retail media advertising spending is predicted to continue to increase year-on-year for the foreseeable future. The industry saw major worldwide growth of 35 percent in 2021. Whilst predictions suggest that growth will continue for several years, it is estimated that yearly growth will be less from 2022 onwards, and will reduce gradually year-on-year.
Spending on traditional vs digital advertising
Retailers are spending more on digital advertising mediums than on traditional advertising. For example, spending on digital static outdoor displays increased significantly between 2019 and 2021, with ad spending on digital outdoor displays more than doubling between 2020 and 2021. In total, however, spending on all outdoor advertising saw a gradual year-on-year reduction across the same three-year period. More traditional advertising has seen a decrease in ad spending, However, trends are noticeably different across specific mediums. Television advertising has only seen a small year-on-year drop in spending. Cinema advertising, on the other hand, dropped significantly in 2020, although it should be noted that this is very likely a result of lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting drop in cinema attendance.Printed traditional media advertising
In line with the global reduction of interest in print media, retailers have been spending less and less every year on advertising in newspapers. Magazine advertising has fared somewhat better; despite a reduction in spending between 2019 and 2020, there was a small increase the following year, suggesting an upward trend in the coming years.
