SEA biggest advertisers: Who is dishing out those ad dollars?

Lazada Singapore, Malaysia's health ministry as well as its communications and multimedia ministry, and Unilever Indonesia were among the biggest 20 advertisers and industry spenders in their respective countries during the first half of the year. This is according to insights from Nielsen Ad Intel solution which measured advertisers across key media in 10 Asia Pacific markets including Thailand, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan.

Nielsen Ad Intel reveals that while spending varies according to each market, the biggest advertisers are within consumer goods, retail, communications and food across the reported markets during the first half of 2022. In industry rankings, governments across the region boosted ad spending during the first half of 2022. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Nielsen for additional information.

Here is the breakdown for each Southeast Asian country.

Singapore

Lazada Singapore, Ministry of Communications and Information and Shopify formed the top three out of 20 advertisers in Singapore.

Meanwhile, the services industry which comprises airlines, banks, and beauty was the top industry in Singapore with an estimated ad spend of US$262.90 million. This placed it way ahead of agricultural, industrial and commercial which came in second with an estimated spend of US$78.16 million. Retail ranked third in spend at US$54.95 million.

Malaysia

Malaysia's health ministry and the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (US$98.87 million) were the top two advertisers in the country, followed by Shopee Malaysia.

Based on this, it is unsurprising that government, social and political organisations were the top industry in terms of ad spend in Malaysia (US$142.66 million). Coming in second was retail (US$98.87 million) followed by miscellaneous (US$38.62 million) and non-alcoholic beverages (US$35.31 million).

Indonesia

Unilever, Valorant, and Mayora were ranked the top three advertisers in Indonesia during the first half of 2022.

Meanwhile, office equipment, computer and communications was the top industry in terms of ad spend (US$1,963.08 million). Companies in the toiletries and cosmetics (US$1,697.61 million) and beverages (US$1,525.07 million) industries also ramped up their investment earlier this year.

Thailand

FMCG companies clearly did not hold back on their ad spend in Thailand during the first half of the year.

Unilever, Nestle, and P&G all made the top three.

In terms of industries, retail shops/stores (US$158.74 million), non-alcoholic beverages (US$130.84 million) and motor vehicles (US$71.15 million) were aggressive with their ad spend. 

Philippines

Much like Thailand, FMCG companies also spent big in Philippines.

Unilever, P&G and Nestle were ranked the top three advertisers.

Meanwhile, medical products and equipment came out as the top spending industry for advertising (US$1,619.13 million), followed by home care products (US$1,011.68 million) and government agencies (US$756.72 million). 

According to Nielsen's recent ROI report, media spend needs to be between 1% and 9% of revenue for brands to remain competitive. Brands in Asia Pacific, in particular, reinvest 4.6% of their revenue into media and reap an ad spend ROI of 85%. While the percentage reinvested is higher than the global average of 3.8%, the region receives 15% less ROI for its ad spend than the global average.

Nielsen Asia Pacific's head of commercial growth, Arnaud Frade, said in today's complex and crowded media landscape, audiences have access to more content across more platforms than ever before. To stay ahead, businesses need reliable advertising intelligence to develop efficient media strategies and differentiate themselves from their competitors.

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