Ebiquity Regulatory News (EBQ)

3 May 2007 11:44

Thomson Intermedia PLC03 May 2007 UK brand advertisers realising Internet's potential 3 May 2007 The first comprehensive media spend estimates for the twelve months to 31stMarch 2007 are published today by Thomson Intermedia. The barometer covers TV, Press, Outdoor, Internet display, Direct Mail, DoorDrops, Radio and Cinema spot advertising media spend. It is the first toprovide a true picture of spend levels by reporting Press at actual cost basedon average industry discounts. The key findings for the past twelve months are: • Overall UK media spend increased 5% in the year to 31st March 2007 thanks to strong growth in Press, Direct media and Internet display advertising budgets. • Traditional broadcast TV advertising fell 4% in the last year, Radio advertising fell 9%. • Revenues across all three main terrestrial broadcasters fell, with ITV advertising revenues falling fastest by 11% year on year. Their digital channels all grew by at least 50% though their scale remains insufficient to offset overall losses. • Internet display ad spend (excl. Search and Classified) grew 9% in the last year. • Press grew 10% overall in the past year thanks mainly to 17% growth in quality titles' colour pages. • Door Drops spend exceeded Direct Mail thanks to raised investment from Retail and Finance sectors. Sarah Jane Thomson, CEO of Thomson Intermedia commented: "There is a strong sense of media being in transition and tremendous uncertaintyabout what will happen as the pace of change seems to get faster daily.Advertisers naturally want to stay ahead of the curve and get things right, butone fear we should see assuaged with time is of audiences fragmenting endlessly,eroding forever the critical mass traditional media once offered." General Observations: Audiences are emerging in significant new ways and technologies driving changeenabling more cost effective communications, albeit on different terms.Definitions of media are expanding, but the means to tie marketing activitiesmore closely to business objectives are increasingly available to those able toexploit them. The media landscape of the not too distant future will certainlybe very different. Several online TV services launching soon will offercommercial breaks, having signed up major commercial and media partners. Brandadvertisers, who have struggled most lately, are beginning to realise theInternet's potential as more consumers spend more time online and convergence oftechnologies removes barriers to doing business as usual." Internet display advertising grew by 9% year on year, which shows an expectedslowdown in the dramatic growth seen across 2005 and 2006. The internet ismaturing as a medium so year on year increases are naturally smaller. Marketobservers are forecasting total internet ad spend growth around 25% year on yearshowing that much of the growth of the digital ad market is coming fromintegrated solutions and partnerships with publishers. Use of standard displayformats is still growing, but increasingly brand advertisers expect moreengaging ways of holding a dialogue with consumers. The lines betweenadvertising and content are blurring. Of the top five spending sectors only Retail and Entertainment have been trulybuoyant in the past year. Retail was the only category in the top five thatraised TV budgets and was equally conspicuous for increasing Radio advertisinginvestment. Direct marketing however, was the main beneficiary of Retailers'increased overall media spend. Retailers cut back on generic Internet displayadvertising by 26% overall in the past year compounding the decreased rate ofgrowth measured for overall Internet display advertising. Toiletries/Cosmeticsand Travel sectors' growing affinity with Direct marketing has also been at theexpense of broad Internet display ad spend and contributed significantly to thistrend. Enquiries: Tony SquiresManaging DirectorThomson IntermediaT: 0207 321 4000tsquires@thomson-intermedia.com www.thomson-intermedia.com About Thomson Intermedia group Thomson Intermedia Plc is the largest independent media business in the UKemploying more than 200 staff including 65 media specialists. We provideadvertising creative capture and media expenditure evaluation services acrossall media to over 350 UK advertisers. billetts, a Thomson Intermedia company,is the UK's leading media auditor offering consultancy services to 150 UKadvertisers. The group works for over 70 of the UK top 100 advertisingcompanies. Thomson and billetts combine to offer unrivalled expertise andexperience advising to major advertisers on communications strategy. Media Spend (Year to March 31st by Quarter) Media by Quarter: Year to 31st March 2007 £ Millions Q2 2006 Q3 2006 Q4 2006 Q1 2007 Total % DiffTV £1,008 £908 £1,067 £947 £3,929 -4%Press* £654 £612 £751 £679 £2,695 10%Direct Mail £323 £314 £369 £318 £1,323 17%Door Drops £318 £319 £317 £388 £1,341 19%Outdoor £172 £192 £219 £218 £801 7%Radio £87 £68 £72 £79 £305 -9%Internet £41 £45 £36 £41 £164 9%Cinema £44 £31 £43 £27 £145 8% TOTAL (All) £2,646 £2,488 £2,873 £2,696 £10,704 5% * PRESS rate-card discounted 52% Sector Spend by Quarter (Year to March 31st by Quarter) Sectors by Quarter: Year to 31st March 2007 £ Millions Q2 2006 Q3 2006 Q4 2006 Q1 2007 MAT % DiffRetail £491 £451 £753 £539 £2,234 19%Finance £459 £429 £382 £450 £1,720 0%Entertainment & Media & Leisure £297 £288 £372 £302 £1,260 5%FMCG £327 £287 £280 £281 £1,175 0%Automotive £237 £246 £169 £246 £898 -3%IT/Communications £217 £186 £216 £210 £829 -7%Toiletries/Cosmetics £173 £175 £211 £136 £694 6%Travel £120 £123 £115 £185 £542 6%Pharmaceutical £91 £86 £102 £97 £375 12%Education & Charities £79 £80 £102 £83 £345 20%Government & Utilities £55 £77 £67 £98 £297 -6%Electrical & Household £81 £45 £90 £50 £266 20%Other £19 £15 £16 £17 £67 -7% TOTAL (All) £2,646 £2,488 £2,873 £2,696 £10,704 5% * PRESS rate-card discounted 52% Sector Spend by Quarter (Year to March 31st by Quarter) Sectors by Media: Year to 30th March 2007£ Millions TV Press Direct Door Drops Outdoor Radio Internet Cinema MAT % Diff MailRetail £648 £568 £367 £491 £76 £73 £8 £4 £2,234 19%Finance £472 £264 £498 £365 £59 £24 £37 £2 £1,720 0%Entertainment & Media & £527 £250 £122 £98 £172 £36 £36 £18 £1,260 5%LeisureFMCG £811 £158 £10 £7 £129 £25 £2 £33 £1,175 0%Automotive £267 £440 £20 £30 £62 £40 £14 £26 £898 -3%IT/Communications £233 £227 £49 £102 £127 £26 £37 £29 £829 -7%Toiletries/Cosmetics £375 £258 £5 £3 £35 £5 £2 £12 £694 6%Travel £100 £271 £54 £29 £52 £14 £15 £7 £542 6%Pharmaceutical £227 £58 £21 £39 £16 £11 £2 £1 £375 12%Education & Charities £48 £35 £141 £98 £12 £6 £4 £1 £345 20%Government & Utilities £108 £53 £19 £24 £41 £42 £4 £7 £297 -6%Electrical & Household £94 £85 £14 £51 £11 £3 £2 £6 £266 20%Other £20 £29 £1 £4 £8 £2 £1 £0 £67 -7% TOTAL (All) £3,929 £2,695 £1,323 £1,341 £801 £305 £164 £145 £10,704 5% Thomson Intermedia Methodology Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Media Creatives Available Spend Available Press • National Dailies • 8:00am day of publication • Rate card base • Same as creatives(Jan. 1998) • National Sundays • Close of day • Optional user discounting • National Weeklies • Close of release date (subject to post) • Regionals • Close of next day (subject to post) • Monthly Titles (Consumer /Business) • Within 1st week of cover date (generally far sooner)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Direct Mail • ABC-audited panel of • Within first 2 • Unit cost per pack • By 27th of(Feb. 1998) 6,000 individuals weeks of based on postage and following following weight multiplied by month month estimated national volumes • Demographically-weighted • Nationally-representative • All contents scanned • including cover letter, envelope, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Door Drops • Same as Direct Mail • Within first • 2 Unit cost per pack • By 27th of(Oct. 2001) weeks of based on postage and following following weight multiplied by month month estimated national volumes------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TV • Automated monitoring • Within 2 hours • CPT using monthly BARB • Updated(Jan. 2000) and capture: of airing commercial spots daily, audience data and 10-days in channels' declared arrears revenues - National terrestrial • Spot updates • Advertiser & brand often as buying audience little as 20 specific CPTs minutes - Regional terrestrial • Channel specific CPTs, including differentiated key multichannel station groups - Multi-Channel - Commercials/Sponsorships ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Radio • Automated monitoring • Within 48 • As TV. Audience • Updated(Jan. 2002) and capture: hours of figures sourced from weekly, airing RAJAR combined with 12-days in industry-standard J-ET arrears booking data • Primary nationals • Spot updates often as little as 20 minutes • Other regionals ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Outdoor • Team of photographers • Every 2 or 3 • UK national spend data • By 20th for the(Jan. 1999) taking digital photos days supplied by OAA previous of: (Outdoor Advertising month Association) / IPA Outdoor - Top 1200 outdoor • Twice per month sites in Greater London area - Ambient (bus, taxi, etc.) London Transport ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Internet • Proprietary web spiders • Close of • Methodology updated • Close of(Jan. 2001) business day from July 2006 to following employ gold standard business inputs from comScore day and billetts interactive with revised sites list. • Crawl the top 334 UK • Calculate using banner websites several hundred frequency (%) and times each per day fully differentiated cost structure based on banner size, website category and placement multiplied by averaged actual market CPTs. • Capture banners, buttons, logos including gif's, flash, pop-ups (inter/ super-stitial) • Search advertising product in development ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cinema • Industry-sourced from • By 20th for • Industry-sourced • By 20th(Jan 2000) media owners the previous calendar creative and spend previous month month from media owners, 100% spend coverage------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange