The Numbers Game

The total adspend, excluding self-promotion for 2006, was R20.1-billion. That is R3-billion or 17% up from 2005.

This has slowed down, as the growth over 2005/2004 was 20%, and in 2004/2003 it was 23%.

Online advertising showed good growth of 24%, although off a small base, while direct mail grew only 12%.

Who was spending all this money on advertising in 2006? The retail sector was the number one spending, with revenue of R4.8-billion. It was also the top spending category in daily newspapers with an ad spend of R814-billion.

The value of self-promotion was 4.5-billion, more than doubling investment in 2005.

Some R3.7-billion or 32% of television revenue came from self-promotion. It grew from 18% in 2005. TV is a dynamic medium, investing a lot in promoting its own stations.

Some 40 percent share of total media spend (excluding self promotion) goes to print with a 12 percent: 28 percent split between magazines and newspapers.

Just behind is TV, which gets a 38% share of total media. Outdoor now has a 5.1% share.

Some 34.3% share of print revenue in 2006 went to daily newspapers run of paper (excluding inserts), or R2.7-billion.

The number one top revenue earner in 2006 was to The Star with earnings of R468-million.

Earnings of R366-million gave Beeld number two spot, and third top earner was Isolezwe with R310-million.

Shoprite Checkers spent R154-million in daily newspapers, excluding inserts, in 2006, making it the top advertiser. It was followed by Pick 'n Pay with R106-million.

Some R95-million and R62-million spend in daily newspapers give MTN and Vodacom 3rd and 4th spots.

Source: AIS, Nielsen, South Africa. Data was collected over a five-year period (Jan-Dec 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).

These figures originally appeared in The Media magazine, March 2007.