European ad spend down -4.4%

Advertising spend is continuing to decline across Europe, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report.

European ad spend was down -4.4% in Q1 2013, which the report puts down to the weight of the region’s economic problems. Nielsen expects that the region will not recover from these challenges in the short term.

The report found that global advertising grew just 1.9% from the first quarter of 2012. Trends fluctuated across the regions – quarterly spending dropped in Europe, marginally increased in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, and remained flat in North America.

Spending in the Middle East and Africa increased from the spending decline of early 2012, up 2.9% in Q1. However, despite the upward progression, ad spend in Egypt – one of the region’s largest markets – was down -20%.

Latin America saw an ad spend growth of 11.9%, with spend climbing in all countries in the region during the period.

Growth in ad expenditures steadily continued in the Asia-Pacific region, where spending grew 5.8% in the first quarter. The best performers in the region were China, Indonesia and the Philippines, which all saw roughly 20% growth. Japan was the only country to see any decline, though it was marginal – down -1.1%.