RTE's list of big spenders on television during the first quarter of the year tells a great deal about the trend in media buying. McConnells tops the list in terms of agency bookings but after that, the next five top buyers are all media specialists. AIM comes next, followed by Mediaworks, then Universal McCann, the Network and Initiative Media.
Two of those - Universal and Mediaworks - are linked to agencies, but the others are specialists. This means the media scene in Ireland is fast reflecting the situations in Britain and Europe where media specialists are the majority buyers from all media.
The first quarter figures from the Outdoor Media Association confirm the trend and they at least are not shy about releasing the actual money spend.
AIM tops the list with a total spend of £842,419; followed by Universal McCann £515,893; Mediaworks £499,927; Zenith £432,562; and CDP, the only full service agency on the list, coming in at number six with £418,296. The amount spent on outdoor from January to March was £2,130,340.
The top five advertisers for the period were Guinness, at £494,990; RTE £227,849; Gilbeys £214,834; Coca Cola £199,535 and Nestle £182,756. RTE is a newcomer on the list, indicating its recent marketing push, and Nestle has never be en as prominent before in the outdoor sector which indicates a new confidence in the medium.
The figures represent annual growth of 7 per cent.
The figures are from the Outdoor Media Association, which represents TDI, David Allen and More Group which between them have about 90 per cent of the outdoor business.
