Advertising surges in Asia-Pacific: Research firm

HONG KONG: Advertising in the Asia-Pacific region surged by almost 20 percent in the first quarter of 2010, marking the second consecutive quarter of growth, research firm Nielsen says.

Driven by strong economic performances and rapidly improving consumer confidence, media advertising activity across 12 Asia-Pacific markets surged by 18 percent in the first quarter.

Nielsen described this as the "clearest sign yet" that economic prospects were improving rapidly across the region. Six of the 10 most confident consumer markets globally are in the Asia-Pacific area.

Richard Basil-Jones, Nielsen Media Asia Pacific's managing director, said the advertising outlook for the rest of 2010 appeared "extremely positive".

"The latest Nielsen findings are the sign that marketers, manufacturers and retailers have been eagerly waiting for, as consumers' spending intentions are turning into actual spending reality," he said.

"Consumers are out there spending and intending to loosen up their purse strings, so the onus is now on marketers to ensure their products and services return to top of mind."

In the first quarter of 2010, global consumer confidence rebounded to its highest level since the third quarter of 2007, Basil-Jones added.

In the Asia-Pacific region, consumers are already upbeat on how they will spend their spare cash, with 41 percent planning a holiday, 35 percent planning to buy new clothes and 30 percent wanting to splash out on new technology.

Advertising spending across the region rose to over 30 billion dollars, an overall increase of 18 percent, led by India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan.

In a quarter of bullish revenue growth, China dominated with a 69 percent share of all main media advertising spending, Nielsen found.