Radio advertising in China returns, financial industry active: CTR

In the first three quarters of 2011, ad placements on radio increased by 30 per cent on a year-on-year basis, despite changing media consumption habits. What is noteworthy is that the financial industry was very active in radio advertising, with placements increasing by 71 per cent, according to CTR, a media research provider in China.

TV remained strong as the dominant media in ad placement, which rose by 14 per cent compared to the same period last year. Provincial-level satellite TV stations, in particular, had the biggest cuts in the length of advertising contracts but still marked growth of 21 per cent in ad placements. CTR pointed out new restrictions on the airing of advertisements and the adjustments of rate cards for first-tier satellite TV stations brought opportunities for second-tier stations. 

As for placements in newspapers and magazines, both pointed to a slowdown in the first nine months of the year. Placements in outdoor media also reached a plateau with growth of only one per cent during the period. In contrast, subway advertising grew rapidly at 24 per cent as a result of the development of rail transport in large cities.

In particular, financial ad placements grew by 37.1 per cent. The introduction of restrictive measures on purchases of commercial homes have left large amounts of funds sitting idle, the report stated. Taking advantage of this situation, the financial industry increased its advertising input in order to win a larger market share in investment sales.