The third decade of the 21st century will see the advertising business enter a new age of technological possibilities, as it has evolved over hundreds of years to become an essential pillar of the contemporary economy.
Virtual and augmented reality will take over the stage, while old methods will be forgotten.
Let’s dive into the world of advertising, with some interesting Australian advertising industry statistics.
Fascinating Advertising Facts and Statistics
- The Australian advertising industry worth is $3.2 billion
- Harvey Norman is the leading advertiser in Australia, with $50 million invested
- “Did Somebody Say Menulog?” was Australia’s most-watched YouTube ad in 2020
- The amount spent on mobile advertising in Australia will reach AU$6.6 billion by the end of 2022
- Aussies do 250,000-300,000 Google searches daily
- Australians spend 51% of screen time watching ads
- 80% of the Australian population uses social media as of 2021
- 83% of companies using AI state that it increased customer engagement
General Australian Advertising Industry Statistics
1. The Australian advertising industry grew by 2.6% in 2022.
(IbisWorld)
How big of an industry is advertising? It’s getting bigger progressively – as the world was exiting the COVID-19 pandemic, life was coming back to normal, so companies started spending more on advertisements. Data shows that the advertising industry Australia has expanded by 0.7% on average each year between 2017 and 2022.
2. Digital Advertising Industry in Australia will spend AU$13.68 billion in 2022.
(Statista) (Statista)
There’s no doubt that digital advertising is the most popular way of advertising, and soon it might replace the traditional one. Global spending on digital advertising in 2021 was over $520 billion and it has only grown since then.
The advertising industry in Australia uses up a lot of money on advertisement campaigns, and in 2021, the overall amount of money spent on advertising was AU$17.3 billion dollars, 10 million of which were used for Australian internet advertising.
3. Harvey Norman spent nearly $50 million on advertising in the last quarter of 2020.
(Mi3) (adbrands)
This is significantly more than its average quarterly ad spend ($21.6 million between 2018 and 2020). And which company spends the most on advertising in Australia? While Harvey Norman holds the top spot as the most popular commercial advertiser, it is followed by Woolworths and Wesfarmers.
Video Advertising Statistics
4. In 2020-2021, 59% of all adult Aussies watched videos on their phones.
(Statista)
Research done in 2021 showed that the most viewed platform was free-to-air live TV, where Aussies spend up to eight hours a week. Right behind there were paid video streaming services, where the Australian viewers spent up to seven hours.
5. ‘Did Somebody Say Menulog?’ was Australia’s most-watched YouTube ad in 2020.
(AdNews)
The advertisement campaign featuring Snoop Dogg was the number one ad watched across Australia. Right behind there were Galaxy Z Fold2 and Sportsbet’s Elite Average Games.
6. In 2022, over 80% of all online traffic is video traffic.
(Invideo) (Biteable) (Chilli Group)
60% of all Australian businesses successfully use video ads as part of their marketing strategy, as 9 out of 10 people claim that they’d prefer to see more videos from their favourite brands.
36% of the companies produce a few short clips a week, while 14% produce clips daily. Furthermore, companies that implement a video strategy notice 41% more web traffic than those that don’t.
A video in a post increases traffic from search results by 157% and overall, 94% of the companies answered positively when asked if the video marketing strategy was a success and if they would continue using it in the future.
Mobile Advertising Statistics
7. AU$3.1 billion were spent on mobile advertising in Australia in 2017.
Mobile advertising is pretty successful so companies are willing to spend good money on it. $288 billion were invested in mobile advertising worldwide, which is 26.6% more compared to 2020. According to the latest research, this amount will grow up to $413 billion by 2024.
As far as Australia goes, it is predicted that the amount spent on mobile advertising there will reach AU$6.6 billion by the end of 2022.
8. Aussies do 250,000-300,000 Google searches per day.
(Redsearch)
With almost 95% market share in Australia, Google is an unavoidable tool when it comes to business promotion and success. The four industries that are searched the most are the following:
- Restaurants
- Cafes
- Beauty and Hairdressing Services
- Accommodation services, such as Bed & Breakfast.
9. 5.3 million Aussies purchase through mobile social networks.
(Finder)
The 5.3 million Australians make up 27% of all adult internet users, and it is estimated that by 2024, the numbers will grow to 6.4 million.
10. 51% of ad screen time caught Australians’ attention.
This is two times more than Aussies think, as they self-report half of that time having spent watching ads. The research relied on using eye-tracking technology to determine the exact time.According to the same research, YouTube ads get the most attention, with 64% of active watching. All of this is thanks to the short ads that occasionally show in between videos
Email Advertising Statistics
11. Emails were the 3rd most common type of advertisement in 2021
The first place is reserved for blog posts and short articles used up to 91% of the time. Next, coming second we have social media posts (88%), and after that come the email newsletters (78%)
12. In 2020, the Australian Click-Through Rate Was 3.1%
(Lance Montana)
3.1% was the highest percentage anywhere in the world at that time. It’s important to mention that compared to 2019, there’s been a significant growth of 2%.
13. The media, entertainment, and the publishing industry has the highest click-through rates, at 20.3%.
(B&T)
There are several ways to increase email engagement, and the best time to send your emails, data shows that Sundays and Tuesdays are best for the click-through rates, and for receiving the highest open rates, send out emails on Tuesday.
Avoid Saturdays, as they receive the lowest open rates, click-through rates, and click-to-open rates.
Advertising Statistics on Social Media
14. 80% Of the Australian Population Uses Social Media as of 2021
According to St atista, 80% of Australians were actively using social media in 2021. If we compare that to the 56% in 2015, we’ll notice an instant increase of around 24%.
15. 79% of brands use Instagram for influencer marketing campaigns.
(SMPerth)
In terms of actual usage, Instagram is the preferred medium for influencer marketing for about 80% of businesses, which is more than double the amount of businesses who use Facebook for the same purpose.
And to see how Instagram stacks up against TikTok in terms of advertising possibilities, take a look at this article.
16. 61% Of Social Media Users Tend to Use Social Media in the Evening
More than half of the Aussies ages 16-64, use social media in the evening. 59% of the =m use it first thing in the morning and only 49% scroll through social media during their lunch breaks.
Online Advertising vs Traditional
17. In 2021, the Digital Marketing Had a Record Growth of 35.8%
(IAB. Australia) (OAER) (Mediaweek)
In 2021, the market was worth over 13 billion dollars, and all of this was recorded after slow growth in 2020 (2.4) and 2019 (5.6%).
The biggest growth happened in the video advertisement, with 48% in one year, coming to 2.9 billion dollars.
18. Almost 70% of Australian marketers are planning to increase the remarketing budget.
(IAB Australia)
More than 40% of Australian marketers allocate up to ¼ of their online budget to retargeting. And a strong 69% of Australian marketers are planning to increase the remarketing budget in the following year significantly.
19. 67% Of Aussies Read Print News
(IAB. Australia) (Roy Morgan)
50% of all the money spent on advertising goes to online, digital advertisements, mainly on social media such as Facebook, and engines such as Google.
But, in one year, there’s been a growth of 6% in the traditional advertisement industry making the percentage of people who prefer online advertisements 67%, or 14.1 million Aussies.
TV Advertising Statistics
20. 92% Of All Australians Tune In to Free-To-Air Commercials Monthly
(Free TV Australia)
This means that nearly every adult in the country is watching commercials on television at least once a month. This is a significant number, and it highlights the importance of free-to-air commercials as a marketing and advertising tool.
21. Australian Companies Spend Over $4 Billion on TV Advertising in 2018-2019
TV is still considered a strong ad strategy by many businesses. When done correctly, TV advertising can be the most effective way to reach the targeted audience. Companies spend a fortune on catchy ads in order to attract the wanted crowd
COVID-19 Effect on the Advertising Industry
22. There was a 30% increase in Australian TV viewers during the pandemic compared to the same week in 2019.
Even though viewership increased, a lot of companies had to cut back on their TV ads because of the COVID outbreak. Companies like travel agencies decreased their presence due to the situation.
23. In 2020, 32% of Australians were listening to podcasts.
(APO)
Although podcast listening grew by 15% during the COVID-19 lockdown, it’s still less than the global average, at 41%. Data also showed that the pandemic-related content increased three times.
24. 30,000 jobs in the media sector were lost due to COVID.
(The Sydney Morning Herald)
All of the jobs were from the media, telecommunication, and internet sectors. Between February and May 2021, 9,600 lost jobs were related to publishing, while 6,600 were from the broadcasting sector.
Advertising Revenue and Market Share
25. In 2022, the Advertising Industry’s Worth 3.2 Billion Dollars
(IBIS World)
The advertising industry grows at a 0.7% rate per year, but in 2022, a 2.6% growth was recorded. Compared to the professional and scientific sectors, the advertising industry growth was slower.
26. In 2020, There Was an AUD9.1 Billion Revenue Growth
(Statista)
The revenue continues growing throughout the years, and in 2021 was around 9.6 billion, while by the end of 2022 is expected to reach somewhere around 10.6 bn dollars.
27. The Australian government spent $145.3 million on advertising in 2020-21.
(Guardian)
The money was spent to advertise campaigns, such as promoting COVID-19 vaccination and violence prevention. Right behind the government are major Australian businesses, such as Coles, Woolworths ($118 million), and Mcdonald’s ($83 million).
Future Trends
28. It Is Predicted That 4 Billion Dollars Will Be Spent on Video Ads in 2024
Video ads are the future, and Australia will spend more money on them. The video advertisement industry recorded a 48% growth in 2021, which is the biggest growth for that year, climbing the video ads up to 2.9 bn dollars.
29. 77% Of All Agencies Think That Out-Stream Ads Are the Future
(Instapage) (eMarketer)
Nearly 80% of all Aussie agencies believe that the new format of ads will replace everything else and that they are really important for their future, as well as the clients.
30. In-Game Ad Revenue Is Predicted to Reach 56 Billion Dollars by 2024
(Venturebeats)
In-game ads are the perfect way to advertise something, and ever since 2004, companies tried implementing this strategy in free-to-play games. The number of people who actually followed the ads was small, but it’s been increased recently.
Many believe that the success rates will grow and that by 2024, the in-game ads will bring serious changes to the advertisement industry.
31. 83% Of Companies Using AI State That It Increased Customer Engagement
(Salesforce Research) (Tealium)
According to research, over 80% of all IT companies state that Artificial intelligence improved their customer engagement, reaching target groups and bringing them more money.
On the other hand, 69% of all companies stated that the use of AI improved and completely transformed their business.
32. 21% of companies plan on implementing influencer marketing in the following year
(Content maximiser)
People follow influencers and it’s been noted that once they promote a certain product, the number of sales goes up, making this type of marketing really successful. Nearly 60% of all fashion and beauty brands already use an influencer marketing strategy.
33. The user penetration in online retailing is expected to jump to 77.2% in 2025
(CommisionFactory)
Australian online shopping increased by 57% in 2020 and is 74.7% in 2022. Over 30% of all Aussie online shoppers tried new brands, while more than 20% tried new stores and websites.
Bottom line
Trends keep changing, and new ways of advertising keep emerging in Australia. Some of them are here to stay, others will slowly fade away in the following years. Now that we’ve seen the Australian advertising industry statistics in-depth, one thing’s for sure, the Advertising Industry will grow tremendously in the following years.
Adbrands
AdNews
APO
B&T
Biteable
Chilli Group
Chron
Commission Factory
Content Maximiser
Finder
Free TV Australia
Guardian
Business News
Ibis World
Instapage
Invideo
Lance Montana
Mediaweek
Mi3
Redsearch
Roy Morgan
Statista
Statista
Tealium
The Sydney Morning Herald
VentureBeat
