The publicity market in Romania went up by 2% in the first half of 2015, to EUR 287 million (rate card value), as three companies strongly increased their spending, according to Romania’s Circulation Audit Bureau (BRAT), which monitors print and online media, as well as radio and outdoor publicity. The figures don’t include TV advertising.

Radio publicity went up by 13% in the first six months of 2015 and outdoor advertising spending increased by 6% while online publicity went down by 7% and print media had 5% lower revenues from advertising, BRAT statistics show.

Companies in the financial sector have increased their publicity spending the most (by 77%) in the first semester, followed by leisure and entertainment companies (up by 55%), and pharmaceuticals (plus 21%). Telecoms also upped their spending by some 12%. On the other hand, retailers, car retailers and personal care (cosmetics) brands reduced their spending by about 15% while industrial companies almost halved their spending.

Three companies strongly increased the budgets for their media campaigns. ING Group’s publicity spending for the four analyzed media went up six-fold, due to the ING-NN rebranding campaign of its life insurance business. Telecom group Telekom Romania also had a publicity budget five times higher than in the first six months of 2014, as it continued to strongly promote its integrated services under the T brand. Online retailer eMAG had the third highest increase in advertising spending, some 160%.

Retailer Carrefour Romania, DIY retailer Dedeman and electronics retailer Altex also increased their publicity spending by about 30%.

The biggest publicity clients for online and print media, radio and outdoor were Polish pharmaceutical group Zdrovit, which sells nutritional supplements, and German retailer Lidl. Zdrovit increased its spending by less than 10% while Lidl cut about a quarter of its budget. Telekom Romania is third, followed by Orange and Carrefour. Vodafone fell to sixth place, as it reduced publicity spending by 25%.

The statistics are based on rate card values, which represent the prices that media groups officially ask for advertising space. The actual publicity spending is much lower, as advertising clients get hefty discounts to the rate card prices. However, even if the absolute values don’t fully reflect reality, BRAT’s figures show the trends in the publicity market.

Ewan McGregor speaks Romanian in recent ING – NN re-branding commercial

The Romanian Athenaeum and Anghel Saligny Bridge feature in Deutsche Telekom European media campaign

Google and Facebook take more than half of Romania’s online advertising

Survey: Online advertising still grows in Romania but publishers need to innovate more

Romanian online advertising market, up 19% on H1

editor@romania-insider.com