In this quarter’s newsletter, you will find how the advertising spend of the 1st half of 2009 in the measured pan-regional Pay TV channels is pacing versus the same period of 2008. We will share with you the top 10 categories and top advertisers in terms of expenditure and we will take a closer look at the 4 consumer packaged goods giants, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Colgate and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. This newsletter supplies you with a sample of the type of in-depth advertising intelligence DataCheck provides on pay TV advertising behavior across the pan regional market.

As marketers one of the biggest challenges we experience is finding a correlation between advertising investment and actual sales or results, defining ROI. However uncertain times such as the one we are experiencing, allow for a clear view of how the advertising industry behaves and its long term effects on market share and perception. The current economic crisis has pushed advertisers to flee the ad space while others are spending more than in previous years, aiming at securing higher market share once things go back to normal.

Categories that tend to spend more during uncertain times are those consumed in a daily basis by consumers or those that consumers see as a getaway from the conflicting news of the crisis. In the other hand, categories that require consumers to spend more money or industries that have been directly impacted tend to decrease their spend trying to stay afloat short term.

Advertising spend in the measured pan-regional advertising supported Pay TV channels* has been directly impacted by the investment trends described above. The overall spend in the main international Pay TV channels has shrunken by only 3%.

This drop, although not as significant as expected, was driven by a decrease in advertising spend of categories such as luxury (fragrance), wireless (service and equipment), non-alcoholic beverages and automotive. However, the overall decrease was made up for by the boost in advertising spend of categories such as Packaged goods (food), Household products (cleaning), theatrical film, Pharmaceutical and Dairy.

The main players under this category, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, Procter & Gamble and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. have adapted to the economic crisis by changing their strategies and adjusting investment levels.
In terms of investment, Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever increased their spending by more than 50%, this follows their global strategy of securing share of voice and share of market during the downturn. SC. Johnson & Son Inc. an unusual player of pan-regional Pay TV, had been coming strong for the past year but so far in 2009, it has shown a decrease of its expenditure of more than 30%.

When talking about strategy, during the 1st half of 2009 P&G and Colgate implemented the use of longer form spots showed by a decrease in the number of spots used. In the other hand, Unilever and Reckitt’s strategies seem to be the opposite. Reckitt increased the number of units or spots 91% in the 1st Half of 2009 vs. the same period last year due to the use of 10, 15 and even 5 second spots.