Christopher Hughes
Research expert covering Australia and New Zealand
Advertising in New Zealand - statistics & facts
Broadly speaking, the advertising industry in New Zealand is in alignment with global trends. With the increasing digitalization of the world and the decline in traditional media, significant investment is being made into digital advertising over more traditional means. Globally, retail media advertising continues to enjoy steady year-on-year growth, being the most invested in advertising medium by a comfortable margin each year. How consumers engage with this type of advertising largely depends on what is offered as well as the growing trend of personalization.
The advertising industry in New Zealand
The advertising industry in New Zealand has enjoyed a decade of growth in turnover, with the only exception being a slight decrease in turnover in 2020, possibly relating to the coronavirus outbreak and its associated lockdowns. When it comes to advertising spending across various mediums, digital-only far outweighs every single other advertising medium, accounting for well over half of total advertising spending in the country. Comparing this to the most popular traditional advertising mediums, spending on television advertising amounted to just under 16 percent of total industry spend, illustrating just how much more invested in digital mediums the industry has become.Consumer preferences and the relationship with online advertising
Consumers in New Zealand have clear preferences about online advertising and brand relationships. The most popular incentives to shop online, or icebreakers, were discount codes, subscriber-only sales, or other offers. In choosing who to engage with, consumers said they chose to engage with a brand email based on either who it comes from, or what the subject line of the email contains. A smaller share said they chose to engage based on the email preview text or header. More generally speaking, consumers said they liked receiving personalized content, as well as limited or exclusive stock items. While some consumers liked the personalization of the advertisements they received, a small percentage also stated that they got annoyed by being served ads based on their search history, and a similar number also said that online adverts in general annoyed them. So much so that around a quarter of consumers said they used ad-blocking software. With advertising, particularly in digital formats, becoming more and more prevalent, this could lead to an even larger share of consumers using ad-blocking software in the future.
