Hong Kong ad spending continues to fall amid sluggish economy

The advertising industry in Hong Kong could be headed for its worst year in more than a decade, as spending on campaigns fell for the third consecutive quarter at the end of September.

Data published by media-monitoring company admanGo on Thursday showed that total advertising expenditure in the city was down 13 per cent year on year to about HK$10 billion in the third quarter.

That followed a 14 per cent year-on-year decline to HK$9.9 billion in the second quarter and 13 per cent tumble to HK$9.4 billion in the first quarter.

“This is the worst period we’ve gone through in the past 15 years, even worst than the situation during the financial crises and the Sars outbreak,” Kevin Huang, chief executive at digital advertising agency Pixels, told the South China Morning Post on Friday.

“While Sars and the financial downturn hurt the market, the impact of those crises lasted just several months each time. The current drop in advertising spending is likely to continue into early 2017.”

The local advertising industry’s performance now seems a far cry from earlier predictions of modest growth this year, as marketers conducted more digital and mobile campaigns.

An industry study published in February by the Hong Kong Advertisers Association and market measurement firm Nielsen showed 29 per cent of the 100 major marketers in the city who were surveyed said they would increase advertising expenditure this year, 35 per cent would keep it unchanged and 36 per cent would cut their spending.