The advertising expenditure in Romania reached EUR 454 million in 2018, up 10% year-on-year according to the 2019 Media Fact Book, released by media agency Initiative. The same report estimates a 7% growth for 2019, up to EUR 485 million as negative developments in the local economy reflect in slower growth pace for the media market.

Last year, television attracted EUR 300 million, up 10% from 2018. All of the other channels – online, radio, and OOH – reported growth, with print being the only exception, the report shows.

Romanians watched, on average, 5.1 hours of television per day in urban areas. The data refer to residents aged 18 to 49 years old. Still, the TV market saw a slight contraction in favor of the digital, following growth in internet and smart technologies usage, the report notes.

The OOH market followed the growth trend started in 2017, up 5% in 2018. The radio segment also grew, to reach EUR 25.7 million. Meanwhile, print went down for the tenth consecutive year, with a decrease of some 5%.

In online, social networks and search remain the main pillars of online activity. At the same time, most internet users (76%) showed a growing interest for video content and audio streaming, where the report estimates growth for the next two years as more services become available. Facebook remained extremely popular in Romania, with 10 million users in 2018. This year, the online advertising market is estimated to grow 16% compared to 208 (EUR 99 million).

The biggest advertising budgets came in 2018 from companies in the pharma industry, followed by those is mobile telecommunications, and cosmetics, personal care and beauty.

At the same time, local consumers spent, on average, EUR 10 million per day in online stores in 2018, compared to EUR 7.67 million in 2017.

The full report is available here.

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editor@romania-insider.com