A recent report by Nielsen revealed that Malaysia’s advertising expenditure in the first half of 2009 totalled RM2.9 billion - a 1% decline from the same period last year (see news article). Internet advertising, based on estimates from established local sites like The Star, received 10% share of the adex. The top 3 spending came from classifieds, mobile phone services and government institutions. A point worth noting is the entry of hypermarkets into the top 10, straight to the 6th spot to be specific - thanks to the public tit-for-tat between Giant, Tesco and Carrefour. What’s even more interesting is the observation by Hafidz Mahpar, an associate editor of The Star, who questioned the accuracy of the adex figures. Here’s the glaring line in the article… Everyone knows Nielsen uses official advertising rates to calculate adex in Malaysia, which do not take into account all the heavy discounting that’s going on. As someone unfamiliar with traditional advertising, I’ve once asked a veteran about his experience with “the real world workings of the ad industry” in Malaysia and the one thing he pointed out was this… The media specialist groups are now seperated from the agencies. What used to be genuine media buying expertise has now been replaced by “who can get the biggest discounts”. The way it works is the media specialists doesn’t charge the client anymore, but instead goes back and press the media owner for steep discounts as commission. Bet you didn’t know this.
