Advertising spend from media agencies hits high
Australia’s media agencies have spent a record amount on advertising in the first four months of 2025, driven by the federal election spend. The $2,711 million spend, while bettering the equivalent period last year, only just edged past the same pre-election period in 2022.
According to data from Guideline SMI, total spend was up 4.1% over the same period last year, with a 3.4% increase in April driven by $49 million in federal election spending during the month. Without this election cash, underlying advertising spend for the month of April was down by 3.8% year-on-year.
The previous ad spend record occurred during the lead up to the 2022 election, when $2.7 billion was spent. This figure has increased by $11 million this year, a modest increase of less than half a percentage point.
When taken in sequence, April seems less like an outlier and more the continuation of a good trend: the sixth consecutive month of higher year-on-year ad spend in the Australian ad market.
Total ad spend for the financial year to date sits just $25 million below the entire 2022 spend, with spending for the 10 months of the current financial year (to April) $150 million above the same period in FY22, and 2.4% above 2024.
Outdoor and digital media both saw record spend in April, while radio spend was the second highest since the post-pandemic rush of 2022 – with community radio up a whopping 178% from the same period in 2024, due to the election.
Metro TV spend climbed 4.2% year-on-year, again, due mostly to the Federal election spend. Interestingly, April newspaper spend dropped from the same month in 2024, suggesting that federal election print spend was allocated to digital mastheads.
SUBSCRIBE
Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.
