The Australian ad market is still feeling the pinch of tough macroeconomic conditions, with ad spend in February back 6 per cent year-on-year (YoY), according to Guideline SMI's latest report.

Spend was down across all media sectors, with total news publishing dropping 20.6 per cent, total video down 12.3 per cent, and cinema falling 9.6 per cent YoY. Magazines (-4.4 per cent) and total audio (-4.2 per cent) experienced more marginal declines, while the outdoor industry was only back 0.4 per cent.

The outdoor industry's retail, programmatic and transit categories compensated for falls elsewhere in the sector, each reporting double digit growth, according to Guideline SMI. Elsewhere, digital audio and digital magazines also bucked the trend, reporting 10.3 per cent and 6.3 per cent YoY lifts in ad spend, respectively.

Overall, digital was back 3.1 per cent despite Social Media bookings increasing by 5.9% and Programmatic bookings returning to growth at 4.7%.

Guideline SMI APAC Managing Director, Jane Ractliffe, said the February result for the Australian market varied significantly from that seen in other sophisticated media markets, with Guideline’s US team reporting record US ad spend in February, along with a 7 per cent YoY lift in Canada and a 12.5 per cent YoY improvement in China.

Ratcliffe noted that a "softer period" was typically expected in Australia "up until at least Easter" with ad demand "likely to pick up in the second half when tax cuts and key sporting events – such as the Paris Olympics - combine to lift demand.’’

Ad demand in February may have also been impacted by large declines in ad spend from Banks and the Communications categories. Ad spend from the Automotive Brand category also fell by 10 per cent despite a 50 per cent increase in bookings to the Electric Vehicles subcategory. Ad spend within the Media category ad spend almost halved all due to a steep decline in ad spend from TV and Radio stations.

Some sectors did show strong growth, with ad spend from the Food/Produce/Dairy advertisers reflecting double-digit growth, and the Toiletries/Cosmetics category up 42.9 per cent year-on-year.

Results were more optimistic when looking at the financial year to date, which only saw ad spend was down 2.1 per cent on last years record period. In that time outdoor ad spend has led the pack with overall gains of 12.1 per cent, while total Digital bookings are up 3.6 per cent.