WARC: TV takes almost two-thirds of successful big-budget ad campaigns

WARC, the international authority on advertising and media effectiveness, has released its first monthly Global Ad Trends Report digesting the latest insights and evidenced thinking from the worldwide advertising industry.

Data drawn from analysis of more than 600 case studies in WARC’s database show that successful high-budget campaigns ($10m+) allocate 66% of their media spend to TV.Additionally, with an increasing budget comes an increased proportion of budget allocated to TV. At the same time, the proportion of budget allocated to digital decreases. Low budget campaigns (up to $500k) allocate on average 8% on TV and mid-budget campaigns ($500k to $10m) spend between 25% to 60%.

Budget allocation to TV has remained consistent in recent years, at approximately two-thirds. This tallies with TV’s share of global advertising spend, which has also remained stable over the period. Financial services and alcoholic drinks brands are most TV-led.

Data from WARC’s 12 key markets – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States – which between them account for approximately two-thirds of the value of global ad trade, show that TV drew 34.9% ($141.8bn) of global adspend last year. This is down from a peak of 40.5% in 2010, but is just a 0.9 point dip over the decade.

Data from WARC’s Media Inflation Forecast, a survey of global media agencies, show that the cost-per-thousand (CPM) for a 30-second TV spot is expected to rise by an average 5% on a global basis next year. TV CPM in the US, the world’s largest market, is anticipated to rise with the global average. In developing markets, namely India and China, it is predicted to rise well ahead of the global average.

Global Ad Trends is part of WARC Data, a newly enhanced dedicated online service featuring current advertising benchmarks, data points, ad trends and user-generated expanded databases.