Olympics Boost ad Spending in China, 2009 Outlook Gloomy

Domestic and overseas firms spent 441.3 billion yuan (64.9 billion U.S. dollars) advertising in China in 2008, up 15 percent year-on-year, according to a market research institute.

Ad spending was buoyed up by the hectic Beijing Olympics last year, said a report released by the CTR Market Research last week. It gave a downbeat forecast for 2009 due to economic slowdown.

With large-scale promotion before, during and after the Olympic Games, the U.S. fast food chain KFC paid the second highest advertising fees in 2008, following the U.S. skin care brand Olay, the report showed.

Monthly ad expenses posted an average annual growth of 17 percent in the January-April period and 16 percent in the June-December period last year. Spending in May only climbed 2 percent year-on-year, impacted by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that struck southwest China on May 12.

Despite the global financial crisis, advertising by the financial industry surged 45 percent in China last year, the highest annual growth among all sectors, said the report.

However, it was almost certain that the global crisis would put a brake on China's ad market growth in 2009 as financial, real estate and auto industries would be further impacted, the report quoted CTR Market research vice president Tony Tian as saying.

Advertisements on TV and those for cosmetic and bath products took the largest market shares last year, accounting for 76 percent and 16 percent of the total ad spending respectively, according to the report.

Source: Xinhua