Seven in ten consumers globally agree that advertising contributes to economic growth, while eight in ten agree that advertising helps create jobs, new research has found.
The Nielsen Company surveyed 25,420 consumers in 50 countries for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in April 2009.
Sixty eight per cent that, as a critical driver of competition between companies, advertising leads to better products and lower prices. Consumers’ views on the economic benefits of advertising are broadly consistent across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, Nielsen found.
However, compared to the global average, UK consumers are less enthusiastic about these benefits with 61% agreeing advertising contributes to economic growth, 71% agreeing it helps create jobs and 64% feeling it leads to better products and lower prices.
The survey also shows a clear majority of consumers globally (81%) across all markets understand the importance of advertising and sponsorship as a critical source of funding for exhibitions, cultural and sporting events, compared to their less convinced counterparts in the UK (68%).
UK consumers are, however, more convinced about advertising being a critical source of funding for the media (71%) than consumers globally (67%).
Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International for The Nielsen Company: “European consumers appear to be more sceptical, with only half agreeing that advertising helps them make better choices.
“Consumers in the rest of the world are much more enthusiastic: four out of five Latin Americans, three quarters of consumers in Asia-Pacific and seven in ten in North America agree. This compares to 65% in the UK.”
In separate research, Nielsen revealed that global advertising expenditure across television, newspapers, magazines and radio recorded a year on year drop of 7.2% for the first quarter of 2009
The report, Global AdView Pulse reveals that the global economic crisis is taking its toll on the ad sector, with European countries taking the hardest hit, especially Spain (-28.2%), Ireland (-21.2%), Italy (-19.1%) and the UK (-14.7%) (see Global adspend fell 7.2% in Q1).
ZenithOptimedia revised down its global ad forecast earlier this month, predicting that it will decline 8.5% this year, with the UK set to suffer a 10.5% fall (see ZenithOptimedia revises down global ad forecast).
