World Cup lifts advertising across Europe, except for Germany

The World Cup boosted advertising spending in many countries, but not for host Germany.

With most matches on public television, Germany did not reap the same sponsorship benefits as others.

ZenithOptimedia, the media planning and buying firm, slightly raised its global ad spending outlook to 6.1 percent growth in 2006 to $431.1 billion the day after the month-long competition ended, from the 6 percent it had forecast in April, based on figures released Monday.

The upgrade was largely based on strong U.S. economic growth and improvement in Euro zone countries.

Ad spending is expected to grow in Germany by 1.6 percent, up from 1.2 percent in 2005, some of which can be attributed to football ad campaigns.

But with most matches on public channels, advertisers were left unable to take advantage of TV coverage. In fact, ZenithOptimedia expects less year-on-year growth in German TV ad spending in 2006, 1.5 percent, which is lower than 2005, when it was 1.8 percent.

Britain's ITV, which split the matches with public broadcaster the BBC, suffered from a shift in viewing to digital channels, which resulted in declining ad rates that also affected the prices it might otherwise have normally expected during the World Cup.

"The football has made a greater impact elsewhere in Europe, notably in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, in each of which we expected television ad expenditure to accelerate markedly in 2006," according to ZenithOptimedia, a division of France's Publicis.

Belgium's 2006 year-on-year ad spending growth is expected to be 3.4 percent compared with a 2.2 percent decline in 2005 from 2004. France is expected to see 3.5 percent growth, compared with 1 percent, and The Netherlands will have 4 percent, as opposed to 2.1 percent.

Despite large global gains in Internet ad spending, which ZenithOptimedia forecasts will grow 76 percent to US 32.5 billion in 2008 from 2005, most big advertisers continue to spend the bulk of their money on television, which is seen generating US 156 billion in 2006.

Of the five biggest categories, only medicine has reduced the proportion it spends on TV, and just fractionally to 74.9 percent in 2005 from 75.2 percent in 2001. The retail, auto, telecommunications and finance sectors all spent more on TV in 2005 than they did in 2001.

"Some of these advertisers may worry about the fragmentation of audiences caused by the spread of digital television and the growing popularity of ad avoidance technology," ZenithOptimedia said, "but collectively they have demonstrated their confidence in the continued power of television advertising."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.