NEW YORK – In the latest installment of its flagship “Advertiser Intelligence Reports (AIR),” Advertiser Perceptions, the media industry’s leading provider of research-based advertiser insight and guidance, has found continued optimism for 2012 among marketers and agencies. In fact, Advertiser Perceptions’ semi-annual index is showing its second-highest reading since 2007.
Advertiser sentiment is derived through responses to a single question posed to a broad cross-section of media decision makers representing the largest advertisers across 16 key ad categories: “In the next 12 months, do you plan to increase, decrease, or maintain your advertising expenditures?” With a majority of respondents planning to increase their spending, the Fall 2011 AIR survey represents the 5th consecutive “optimistic” finding since the latest recession to affect the advertising marketplace in 2007-2008.
Advertiser optimism varies by medium. However, all media have shown improvement, with advertisers showing the greatest optimism for advertising with mobile, digital, and cable-television media. Respondents showed moderate optimism for broadcast and improvements for magazines and national newspapers, although sentiment for those print-media vehicles remains largely pessimistic.
A majority of advertisers in every major advertising category anticipate increasing their ad spending in 2012. Based on this wave of AIR, Advertiser Perceptions anticipates that the most optimistic advertisers will be in beauty, alcoholic beverages, financial products/services, consumer electronics, and automotive categories.
Nearly all major advertisers have expanded their budgets for digital ad channels. As a result, the optimism trends there are especially strong. Search advertising is rebounding after a slight dip in the Spring of 2011, while optimism for digital video media is exceptionally strong.
“In 2012, the nation faces an uncertain economic environment, an unclear political climate, and unsteady consumer confidence,” said Ken Pearl,” CEO and co-founder of Advertiser Perceptions. “Nonetheless, in our large and comprehensive survey of more than 1,200 media decision-makers, our Advertiser Intelligence Reports (AIR) Wave 16 found broad-based optimism over the coming 12 months. This optimism among advertisers has been consistent in AIR since the Fall of 2009.”
About the Advertiser Intelligence Reports
The Advertiser Intelligence Reports (AIR) is the largest multi-client tracking study of media decision makers in the world. It provides media executives with the plans and opinions of more than 1,200 marketers and agencies every six months. Insight from AIR is provided by media decision-makers representing the largest advertisers across 16 major advertising categories and more than 500 leading digital, television, magazine, national newspaper, and mobile media brands. Clients use the intelligence from AIR to strengthen their media brands and improve advertiser satisfaction.
The Advertiser Intelligence Report Wave 16 represents the media plans and perceptions of more than 1,200 U.S. media decision makers surveyed in October through November of 2011. They have an average of 6.8 years of involvement in media decisions. The sample represents a cross-section of leading U.S. advertisers by ad category and media type.