Mobile firms dominate spending on advertising

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Mobile firm Beeline advertises on the streets of Phnom Penh last week.

Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:00 Nathan Green

Research conducted for the first eight months of 2009 shows telcos top the list of the biggest spenders on TV and print ads

SEVEN of Cambodia’s nine mobile phone companies were among the top 10 spenders on print advertising in the first eight months, figures released to the Post by Indochina Research Wednesday showed.

The research, which tracks advertising spend based on published rate cards and does not account for discounts, showed a 30 percent drop in total advertising spending over the period from US$52.8 million in the first eight months of 2008 to $37.5 million.

Joining the mobile-phone companies among the top-10 spenders were an Internet service provider and a mobile-handset supplier. A tobacco company was the only representative from outside of the communications sector in the top 10, slotting in at No 6, according to data collected by Indochina Research’s Media Monitoring Department. None of the companies was named.

There were five mobile-phone companies in the top 10 spots last year, including the four biggest spenders.

Mobile operators took up six of the top 10 spots in terms of television advertising, including the top three places, one more than last year, when five held positions in the top 10.

“One of the reasons for such advertising presence is certainly the ever-increasing competitive environment in which telcos have been operating for the past two years,” said IndoChina Research General Manager Laurent Notin. “Telcos need to create brand awareness to build, then sustain their customer base.”

The top 10 advertisers so far in 2009 accounted for around 35 percent of the total spending on print ads and 30 percent of total television advertising expenditures over the period.

Among those, mobile operators accounted for 19 percent of total television advertising spend, up from 12 percent for the same period in 2008.

“The mobile operators are more of a pillar to the advertising scene than last year over the same period, [and they are] certainly providing some sort of relief to the media sector in the current economic turmoil,” Notin said.

Television series and soap operas attracted the most advertising revenues, Indochina Research’s data showed.

The dinner slot between 6:30pm and 9:30pm attracted 43 percent of advertising revenues over the period, followed by the 10:30am to 2:30pm slot, which attracted 25 percent.