China's advertising expenditure in 2005 totaled 243.9 billion
yuan (US$30.5 billion), 18 percent more than in 2004, but growth
was the slowest in the last three years.
According to a report released yesterday by Beijing-based CTR
Market Research, spending on advertising grew 39 percent in 2004
and 22 percent in 2003.
The slower growth in 2005 showed that advertisers are spending
more rationally, Tian Tao, vice president of CTR, said at a press
conference.
Enterprises no longer rely on advertisements as much as they did
in the past, Chen Gang, a professor at the School of Journalism and
Communications of Peking
University, told China Daily.
"Enterprises nowadays tend to put part of their money into
integrated marketing and other activities to promote their
products," Chen said.
On top of that, other factors influenced advertisement spending
in 2005, Chen added. The government's macro-control measures to
cool down the overheated real estate sector, the ban on some
medical advertising, and a slowdown in the automobile industry all
contributed to slower growth, he said.
CTR, which researched TV, newspaper, magazine, radio and outdoor
advertising, predicted that the industry would keep growing at a
slow but stable pace.
Tian said the advertising market is expected to grow 15 percent
this year, much higher than the predicted 4.4 percent growth for
the global market.
Another finding was that newspapers are losing their share of ad
revenue to other media.
Although it still dominates the market together with TV,
newspaper advertising lost a 3 percent market share to radio,
outdoor and new media last year. Advertising expenditure in
newspapers declined by 1 percent in 2005.
CTR's report said the reason is newspapers' heavy reliance on
major advertisers in the real estate, automobile and pharmaceutical
industries, which adjusted their marketing communication strategies
in response to regulatory policies.
With the top five advertisers in 2005 remaining almost the same
as in 2004, credit cards (recording 80 percent growth) and imported
alcoholic beverages (recording 156 percent growth) featured
strongly last year.
Tian said: "This phenomenon leads us to believe that financial
services and luxury goods advertising will be the driving forces
this year."
(China Daily February 21, 2006)