MFB: Digital – second after TV in 2011; total value of Romanian media market in 2012 – Euro 303M

Initiative launched Wednesday, in a press conference organized at its headquarters, Media Fact Book (MFB), that reached its 16th edition and that includes detailed info on ad budgets spent in 2011 and predictions regarding the evolution of advertising investments for current year.

As Alexandra Olteanu, Managing Director Initiative, said in the start of the conference, Media Fact Book doesn’t mean only data, but also trends that can be noticed from one year to another.

As we were already predicting, digital was 2011’s star, managing to gain the 2nd place among the media channels attracting the biggest ad investments. And this isn’t over. 2011 meant an explosion for Social Media as number of users, with Facebook reaching 4.16M users in Romania. As a consequence, the brands increased their visibility in social networks, aiming for interactivity and to build a long term relationship with their consumers. Online is the only channel that will continue growing in 2012 also, by around 20%

Alexandra Olteanu

Managing Director Initiative

The value of investments in online advertising was 30% higher in 2011 compared to previous year, reaching to Euro 34M, according to MFB, that estimates online will grow this year and will reach to Euro 41M by the end of 2012. Display advertising decreased as part of total media investments, from 62% in 2011 to 55% this year, while Performance media (Google, Facebook, Yahoo) will increase from 38% to 45%.

In 2011, the decline of media market temperated, with an only 2% decline in net value ccompared to previous year, to Euro 309M.

Print continued to drop, down with 8% compared to 2010, followed by outdoor, also in decline by 7%. The outdoor decline when it comes of budgets attracted comes mainly from the lack of clear reglementations of the market.

According to MFB, the value of ad investments attracted by TV was of around Euro 200M, 4% less compared to 2010. On the other hand, radio, used only marginally by advertisers nowadays, decreased marginally in 2011.

The biggest investors in advertising were, last year, telecom companies – Euro 42M netto and the cosmetics and personal care ones – Euro 40M netto.

2012 will come with more creativity and integration in brand communication. Brands will have to find intelligent and efficient ways to reach consumers, using integrated, coherent platforms, combining, beyond online and offline, also the other disciplines in communication, cancelling the limits between ATL and BTL

Alexandra Olteanu

With a 15% penetration rate for smartphones in 2011, brands stared to be aware of the power of mobile apps and the opportunity to involve consumers at a more personal level; that is why Initiative predicts 2012 will come with a substantial diversification for mobile marketing solutions.

Media Fact Book is a guide published annually by Initiative starting 1997 and is the only work that analyzes Romanian media and advertising market. The study can be downloaded from a dedicated website and also viewed and downloaded on mobile, both on smartphones and tablets, in a mobile version.