LONDON: Marketers in all regions reported a net increase in their budgets in March, according to Warc's latest Global Marketing Index.

The Global Marketing Index (GMI), which draws on data covering marketing budgets, trading conditions and staffing levels from a panel of 1,225 executives, showed a strong performance for the month across all measures.

Globally, the index of marketing budgets improved from 51.7 in February to 52.4 in March, which is the Index's highest reading since April 2012. GMI scores over 50 points indicate a positive trend.

The marketing budget index for Europe stood at 50.5 in March, the region's first net increase in budgets for 11 months. Marketing budgets also rose in the Americas (55.4) and Asia Pacific (51.2).

"The latest GMI data are encouraging for marketers worldwide," said Suzy Young, Data and Journals Director at Warc. "Confidence appears to be returning in Europe, which is reassuring in the light of fresh concerns regarding economic stability in the eurozone."

The headline GMI measure, which incorporates panel responses for marketing budgets, trading conditions and staffing levels, reached 56.9 points in March, up 0.7 points on the previous month.

This strong performance can largely be attributed to a solid improvement of 1.9 points in Europe's headline index in March, which rose to 55.0 for the month.

In terms of the other reported regions, the headline index for Asia Pacific remained static from February on 56.2, while that for the Americas dropped slightly (–0.5 points) to 59.0.

The outlook remains the most positive in the Americas, where the index for trading conditions rose by 1.4 points to 62.3. Despite registering a small month-on-month decline for its index reading in March, marketers in Asia Pacific remain optimistic about trading prospects on 59.5.

European marketers are also confident, recording a reading of 57.9 for trading conditions, an increase of 0.6 points from February's data.

In terms of the allocation of global marketing budgets by media channel, the indexes for mobile and out of home recorded significant month-on-month improvement compared with February, rising by 2.7 points and 2.3 points respectively.

Data sourced from Warc; additional content by Warc staff