Global marketers upbeat in July: Warc

According to Warc's latest Global Marketing Index, budgeted spend for TV dips first time since October 2013. Digital and Mobile spends remain upbeat

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | July 24, 2014

Global marketers remained upbeat in July, according to Warc's latest Global Marketing Index. Globally, the headline GMI measure recorded an index value of 56.6 in July, where a reading of 50 indicates neutral sentiment.

The reading represents flat growth from June's index, but a 2.3 point rise from this time last year.

Marketer confidence was highest in the Americas for the fifth consecutive month, with a headline index reading of 57.7 in July indicating improving conditions overall, despite a 1.6 point fall from June's reading. Optimism was also high in Europe, where a headline index reading of 57.2 marked a 1.5 point rise against June, while the headline index for Asia Pacific remained largely flat month-on-month, on 55.1 (+0.2 points).

The GMI is a unique indicator of the state of the global marketing industry. Every month it tracks conditions among marketers within their organisation and region. It tracks marketing budgets, trading conditions and staffing levels. A reading of 50 indicates no change, and above 60 indicates rapid growth.

Strong trading conditions underpinned the positive outlook in both Europe and the Americas, with index readings of 59.9 and 59.7 respectively showing marketers are confident about business conditions in those regions.

Indicators are also positive for Asia Pacific, where the index value registered 57.8.

Globally, the index for trading conditions stood at 59.2 in July: the first time the value has dipped below 60.0 since October 2013.

The second component index of the headline GMI, the index for marketing budgets, fell 0.9 points globally from June to 53.2 in July, although this marked the eighteenth consecutive month of net budget improvement. The highest reading on the index for marketing budgets was registered in Europe, on 54.1 (up 1.3 points month-on-month), followed by the Americas on 52.8 (down 3.7 points) and Asia Pacific on 52.5 (down 0.6 points).

Within this all media total, the global index for TV budgets stood at 49.6, offering the first signal of declining spend since October 2013. There was a tightening of TV spend in the Americas, where the channel's individual index recorded 42.8 for July, a 8.6 point fall which left the index at its lowest value since the GMI began. But, the corresponding index in Europe recorded its tenth consecutive month of improvement, with a reading of 55.6 for July.

The third and final component of the headline GMI – the index for staffing levels – rose by 1.6 points this month to 57.6. For the eighth consecutive month, the rate of hiring was highest in the Americas, on 60.5, followed by Europe (57.5) and Asia Pacific (54.9).

Suzy Young, Data and Journals Director at Warc, said, “The global headline GMI remains consistent with June data on 56.6. Within this, the indexes for all featured regions have stabilised significantly since the end of 2013, with marketers generally upbeat about their business environment.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com