Media and entertainment brands most confident of growth

Advertisers in the media and entertainment category are most confident about seeing growth this year – closely followed by advertisers in pharmaceuticals and healthcare – according to new research from Zenith.

Ranking different advertising categories on a scale of zero to 100 – where zero represents substantial decline, 100 substantial growth, and 50 means the average expectation is for no growth – media and entertainment advertisers scored 82.

The lowest-scoring category was telecommunications at 33.3, followed by food & drink and FMCG (non-food).

Zenith also asked clients how the increase in data has affected three areas of their business: buying efficiency, creating new insights into consumers, and generating profitable brand growth.

For each area Zenith gave brands five options: data has made it more difficult, has had no effect, has slightly improved it, has greatly improved it, or has revolutionised it.

For each area there was one overwhelmingly popular response, with 50% or more of responses. These were:

– The huge increase in data has allowed us to make small improvements in buying efficiency.
– It has allowed us to create much better insights.
– It has improved brand growth slightly.

“Brands have the opportunity to harness data and technology to transform their businesses and accelerate brand growth, but are having difficulty in turning theory into practice,” said Vittorio Bonori, Zenith’s global brand president.

“Agencies must step up and work in partnership with their clients to unlock the true potential of this revolution in communications.”