Spot volume down by a tenth as coronavirus hit

An overview of TV advertising spot volumes by category in Australia between September 2019 and December 2020.

When the coronavirus outbreak took hold in Australia last year, TV CPMs fell markedly as many brands froze budgets. However, some categories bucked the wider trend and increased their spot volume, according to a WARC Data analysis of Adgile data.

The lowest volume of spots was measured in April 2020 (1.23m) as the coronavirus outbreak first hit, a level that had fallen by one-tenth (11.2%) compared to the start of the year. As brands withdrew, CPM fell by 4.9%, per the WFA's agency consensus of cost inflation.

Some categories increased their spot volume during this period, though. Health...

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