What you need to know:

• Ad spend for the month of August was the highest ever for the month, according to SMI figures.
• Despite lockdowns, ad spend was 26.6 per cent higher than last August and 11.6 per cent higher than 2019.
• The Tokyo Olympics added to the success of the month, but September is still five per cent ahead of last year’s levels and underlying ad spend is "robust". 

Ad spend in Australia reached record levels for the month of August, despite lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne.

Standard Media Index (SMI) is reporting marketers spent 26.6 per cent more this year than last year – 11.6 per cent higher than in 2019 and 4.1 per cent above August 2018.

In a sign the market has adjusted to the economic conditions caused by the pandemic, the first eight months of 2021 are currently 1.2 per cent above 2019 levels and just 0.8 per cent behind the all-time high of 2018.

“Never would anyone have expected the Australian ad market to be hitting a record high so soon after such a prolonged advertising recession, and also while our two largest states remain in lockdown,” SMI AU/NZ Managing Director Jane Ractliffe said.

September remains five per cent ahead of last year’s result, excluding digital.

TV and Digital were big drivers of the results in August, which covered the end of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Digital bookings were up 28.6 per cent year-on-year, while TV bookings were up 29 per cent, breaking through the $300 million mark for the first time for August since the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“But the difference with the Rio Olympics is they were held across the full month of August … with that timing issue meaning the 2021 August TV result is at a record level,’’ Ractliffe said.

Digital video spend rose 72.9 per cent year-on-year, while audio grew 22.4 per cent. Magazine saw a 11.7 per cent rise, News Media rose two per cent, and Cinema rose 79.1 per cent.

Government Covid messaging spend meant the Government category was the third largest-spending category for the month.