“The effects of the global financial crisis have certainly caught up with the ad sector in this latest quarter, especially in North America and Europe where virtually all of the territories we reported on recorded negative growth,” said Ben van der Werf, managing director, Global AdView at Nielsen.  “Even China, which usually sees a boost in ad spend during the Chinese New Year, posted subdued growth for the quarter.”

All four major media types – newspapers, magazines, TV and radio – posted drops in ad spending, with print media leading the decline.  Magazines fared the worst (-17.4%) followed by newspapers (-9.1%).   In North America, magazine ad spend was down 22.2 percent, while newspapers were off 15.6 percent.

Not surprisingly, the automotive category recorded the largest loss in ad spend – down 19.9 percent – followed by financial services (-16.7%) and clothing (-15.7%).

Read the full Global Ad Spend press release.

Most consumers said that they would continue to purchase non-prescription medications, although they may switch to cheaper products or use them less frequently. Americans, Germans and Scandinavians all indicated that they would be looking for less expensive products.

Overall, the survey highlights the importance of understanding local consumer needs, as regulatory, distribution and marketing framework vary greatly by country, and cultures have different approaches to what products they use and how they buy them.  Manufacturers that understand these nuances are better positioned to successfully ride out the recession and maintain some level of growth.

Read the full article about Nielsen’s landmark study of the global non-prescription medication market in the current edition of Consumer Insight.

“These numbers confirm the acceptance and attractiveness of mail order. Indeed, one in two German respondents in the Nielsen European OTC survey said they had ordered medicines over the Internet in 2008,” said Bernd Wilhelm, Director of Pharma & Healthcare at Nielsen in Frankfurt.

Recession or not, for good reason there is no shortage of innovation in the mobile media industry (e.g. iPhone 3.0, the upcoming Palm Pre). The bottom line: consumers still want more! According to recent research across the U.S. and Western Europe conducted by The Nielsen Company on behalf of Tellabs, consumers are still bullish on the use of the mobile device beyond voice calling services and plan on continuing to adopt and use mobile data services. Of the 200 million current users of advanced mobile data services across the U.S. and Europe, almost 60% intend to use mobile data services more in the next 24 months, and of the millions of non-users, more than 25% intent to adopt mobile data services in the next 24 months.

Not only are U.S. users leading in their expectation of use of the mobile internet, but also in their frequency of use. Seventy one percent of current users expect to use the mobile internet daily, if not several times a day, whereas 41% of Europeans expect to have such a high frequency of use.

What’s driving this trend is consumer’s expectation of how using mobile data services will add convenience and improve their lifestyle, and how this aligns with current capabilities of the mobile platform. Making consumer’s lives easier is the most important factor driving increased use in the U.S.

When conducting the research, we also looked at other lifestyle factors including work, entertainment and socializing. The “work” lifestyle was also a big factor in boosting use of select mobile data services in the U.S. These differences emerge even in the use of software/applications – entertainment was more of a driving factor for use in France, Germany and Spain, but was not as relevant in the U.S.

Given the current capability of the mobile platform and consumer’s current perception of how they would use it, keep your eyes on mobile marketing applications focused on convenience (shopping, coupons, and commerce) first and pure entertainment down the road.

The primary benefit of taking vitamins and supplements, according to more than 60 percent of those surveyed, was to boost the immune system, a response most common in Asia.  In the U.S., 62 percent of respondents said they took vitamins and supplements to ensure a balanced diet, a response only matched by Japan with 60 percent.

Regions where vitamin and supplement usage was lowest was Europe (30%) and Latin America (28%), with France and Spain bringing up the bottom with only 17 percent and 13 percent of consumers saying that they take vitamins and supplements. The primary reason for not taking vitamins was that their diets were already balanced and saw no need to take them. Interestingly, consumers in Poland, Russia and the Baltic states felt that “it is too difficult to understand which product to use,” suggesting an opportunity for marketers to refine their message in these markets.

According to a recent 52-country survey by Nielsen, some of these attitudes are universal: almost two-thirds (60%) of the world’s population struggle with their weight — 50% with overweight and 10% with underweight issues.

But as Jonathan Banks, Business Insights Director, Nielsen, notes in the January issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter, tactics for paring pounds — and body image — vary by country.

North Americans, for instance, self-identify as “very overweight” at double the rate of people in Emerging Markets – and at a 30% higher rate than Asia-Pacific and European residents.

In contrast, Asia Pacific ranked as the “most underweight” region, with more than half of respondents from these countries scoring themselves as “underweight” (12%) or “about the right weight” (41%).

Read the full article.

View the latest issue of “Consumer Insight.”

While 53% of those surveyed by Nielsen think their country has hit a prolonged recession that will last more than 12 months, 18% of consumers, concentrated in a handful of emerging markets, like India, Vietnam, China, and Russia, told Nielsen they expect their countries to be out of recession within the next 12 months.

In contrast, consumers in Japan, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, Italy, Taiwan, the U.S., and Spain were the least optimistic about the prospects for quick economic recovery.

Nielsen surveyed 28,663 Internet users in 52 markets across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas, and the Middle East between September 22 and October 6, 2008, as part of its Global Online Consumer Survey.

The survey’s results reveal that global consumer confidence fell to a new low this month, dropping from an index of 88 in May 2008 – previously the lowest index on record – to 84 in October, according to Nielsen.  Only Brazil, the Philippines, New Zealand, China, Thailand, South Africa, and Hungary showed improved consumer confidence, compared with May 2008.

Not surprisingly, consumers worldwide are adopting new strategies to reduce discretionary spending and shore up household finances.
 
On average, 49% of global consumers plan to spend less on new clothing, as well as gas and electricity, according to Nielsen. 

Meanwhile, 47% report reducing out-of-home entertainment, 40% say they’ll delay upgrading to new PCs and mobile phones, and 39% will cut down on take-away meals from restaurants. 

Even necessities, like groceries, are on the chopping block — 36% of global consumers report switching to cheaper grocery brands in order to reduce their expenses.

Overall, consumers in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the U.K., Turkey, the U.S., Colombia, and Argentina plan to make the most changes in their spending habits, as they search for ways to weather the current economic turmoil.

View the full press release.

Read a related press release on consumer confidence in Hong Kong and Great Britain.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by Sky News and in the Shanghai Daily, the Business Standard (India), Forbes, the Financial Times, The China Post, the Thanh Nien Daily, and the Malaysia Star.

Learn more about global consumer confidence levels in the December 2008 issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.

Strong advertising growth in the Asia-Pacific region (+7.6% over Q2 2007) drove the increase, according to data released in Nielsen’s latest Global AdView Pulse report.

Ad spending trends worldwide showed significant variations — with overall advertising declines recorded in North America (-1%) and Europe (-3%).

In North America, U.S. ad spending was down by approximately 6%, compared with the same period last year, while ad spending in Canada grew slightly (+1.7%).

In Europe, the drop in ad spending affected all industry sectors and all media — except radio, which rose by almost 1% during the second quarter of this year.

In Asia Pacific, all four major media types (TV, magazines, newspapers, and radio) grew over Q2 2007, despite the detrimental effects of the May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province, the Japanese recession, and general softening of the economy.  Of the twelve Asia-Pacific countries Nielsen tracks, only Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan showed declines in second quarter ad spending.

Globally, most industry sectors showed increased ad spending in Q2 2008, as compared with Q2 2007 spending.  The Automotive, Telecommunications, Financial, and Durables categories, which recorded decreased advertising investment in the second quarter of this year, were the only exceptions to that trend.

Among the mediums tracked by Nielsen – television, print, radio, outdoor, cinema, and Internet (where available) — TV showed growth (+3.8%), while all other media recorded ad spending declines.

Nielsen’s report is based on advertising data from 28 markets in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America.

View the full press release.

Consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, for example, are more inclined to save than to splurge if they have spare money, while Russian consumers pump their extra cash into expanding their wardrobe, according to Nielsen.

Meanwhile, people in Nordic countries continue to spend money on travel and vacations, while Brazilians are happy to stay home.

Discretionary income has also become increasingly scarce in countries throughout Europe and North America, according to Nielsen.  One-fifth of those surveyed by Nielsen in Britain, Germany, and France — and a quarter of Americans — have eliminated spending money for pleasure, The Economist noted.

Still, some small luxuries have remained immune to the economic gloom: 80% of Americans are continuing to shell out $10-$12 per ticket to catch movies on the big screen, Nielsen found.

Meanwhile users across the U.S. and Europe commonly use their phones to access news and information online, Nielsen found. 

Entertainment, gaming, and music websites rank among the top five categories visited via the mobile Web in all four BRIC countries, while email, weather, news, and search are the top categories for both American and European mobile Internet users. 

In the U.S., entertainment, music, and games place eighth, ninth, and tenth respectively. 

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in the Business Standard and The Economic Times.