Australians, like many consumers around the world, are cutting back personal spending by shopping less often and switching to less expensive and private label brands.  But one area where they refuse to compromise is their drink: sales of premium brands of beer, spirits and bottled wine all showed strong volume sales performance in the first quarter of 2009.
Imported and domestic premium beers posted growth of 15.3 and 18.6 percent, respectively, over the same period last year, while sales of premium spirits rose 21.3 percent.  Cheaper beer and spirit segments also …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
For those of you who attended our 2009 Consumer 360 client conference, you heard the opening remarks from John Lewis, President & CEO, Nielsen Consumer North America, on the impact of the economy on our industry.  His message was about how our company is “investing considerable resources in the area of thought leadership to mine Nielsen content to understand what will happen tomorrow; where (our economy) will settle; and what will the new paradigm look like?”
When John looks at the economy he …

For 25 years, Nielsen has organized what has become one of the most important business events in Italy.  The focus of L’Incontro Nielsen 2009, which was held late last month in Sardinia, was the economic crisis and possible solutions for recovery.
Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and an advisor to several heads of state, opened the event by outlining his views of the crises facing the world today: economic, energy and climate. The solution, Rifkin believes, is a third industrial revolution propelled by a hydrogen economy. …

Consumers around the world are changing the way they spend their money given the difficult and uncertain economic conditions.  In Singapore, one way people are adjusting is by eating at home more frequently, according to new research from Nielsen.  The result: the average Singapore home is spending more on fresh food, groceries and household items than in recent years, creating opportunities for retailers and manufacturers who know how to effectively leverage this new behavior.
The average household has increased overall spending in these categories by 14 percent, with fresh food spend …

Nearly half of consumers around the world will change their usage of non-prescription medicines because of the recession. Consumers are making less frequent purchases, using more natural and traditional remedies and buying cheaper products.

As the full force of the economic downturn has hit countries around the world, consumer confidence has taken a dive as people worry job stability and paying their bills.  And while China has not been immune from the recession, Chinese consumers seem to be enduring the challenges better than most, according to new research from Nielsen.
To be fair, consumer confidence dropped 7 points in the March 2009 Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index from September 2008.  But that drop is relatively small compared to most other countries, and China ranks tenth overall.  …

Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines all recorded sound growth in ad spending in 2008 despite the global economic downturn.  Meanwhile, ad spending in Thailand dropped 3 percent during the year as political instability took a toll.
INDONESIA
Leading the group was Indonesia, where ad spending increased 19 percent in 2008 over the previous year, and all four quarter showed growth.

Media Outlet
2008 (US$000s)
2007 (US$000s)
% Change

TV
2,868,654
2,522,678
14%

Newspapers
1,499,080
1,165,809
29%

Magazines
182,731
149,715
22%

TOTAL
4,550,465
3,838,202
19%

Source: Nielsen AIS

The top 10 ad spending categories combined represent 77 percent of all main media spending in Indonesia.  The office equipment/computers/communications category led spending …

With economic uncertainty, a declining real estate market and a depreciating currency, South Korea felt the full impact of the global recession in 2008.  Ad spending fell 8 percent versus 2007 – the largest drop of the 12 countries Nielsen analyzed in Asia – with a drop of 19 percent in the fourth quarter.  All outlets – TV, newspapers, magazines and radio – saw declines in spending.
Ad spending in the largest category – financing, insurance & securities – not surprisingly dropped 13 percent in 2008, while construction & real estate …

The global recession seems to have only lightly brushed India.  Despite some slippage in the fourth quarter (growth slowed to only 14.7%), overall ad spending was up 25 percent in 2008.  And while it remains to be seen how India and the rest of the world endure in 2009, all signs seem to point to continued ad spend growth in the country as the national TV networks work toward setting up regional and local channels.

Media Outlet
2008 (US$000s)
2007 (US$000s)
% Change

TV
2,195,065
1,845,807
19%

Newspapers
3,322,955
2,418,702
37%

Magazines
411,922
324,771
27%

Radio
670,285
648,064
3%

Cinema
47,132
42,713
10%

Outdoor
289,165
263,169
10%

Other
89,839
59,338
51%

TOTAL
7,026,363
5,602,564
25%

Source: AdEx India – A division of TAM India …

2008 was a year of highs and lows for China – the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing were a monumental achievement while the Sichuan earthquake in May was tragedy.   The economy recorded 9 percent growth – the first year of single-digit growth since 2003 and below the average rate of 9.8 percent in the past 30 years.  Contrary to experiences in other countries, metrics actually rose in the last quarter of 2008: industrial output, private consumption, retail sales and bank lending all increased.  For the whole year, ad spending posted …