Samsung outspent Apple in advertising

Samsung remained aggressive in ad placement throughout the year with a large focus on traditional media like TVC and newspapers. Spending 1.4 times more than it did in 2011, its HK$554 million ad spend outdid that of Apple’s HK$120 million by 3.6 times, according to the latest admanGo statistics.The top spender in the market remains P&G, which, with a spending of HK$896m, saw a 8% year-on-year increase from 2011: its percentage of TVC in their ad budgets dropped from 81% in 2011 to 75% while outdoor ads jumped by 124% year-on-year.According to the study, total advertising expenditure in 2012 amounted to HK$40.7 billion, recording a yoy growth of 13%.Despite the overall increase, the media mix of newspaper dropped to less than 30% last year – an indication that an enlarged free paper sector – two titles were added in 2012 – doesn’t equate an enlarged newspaper ad spend pie.New media, on the other hand, is the up-and-rising competitor: interactive ads enjoyed the largest year-on-year growth with mobile advertisement growing four times in ad spend during the fourth quarter compared to the first quarter of 2012.