Hong Kong's advertising suffers worst contraction in almost two decades
January 26, 2017
Industry News
Content Provided By:
Bien Perez
[email protected]
Hong Kong’s advertising market saw a 13 per cent year-on-year drop in spending in 2016, as the weak local economy slowed down marketing campaigns of industries across the board.
“This represents the biggest year-on-year decline for ad spending since we started tracking the market in 1999,” Jennifer Ma, a director at media-monitoring company admanGo, told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.
Advertising expenditure in Hong Kong reached HK$39.8 billion last year, down from HK$45.9 billion in 2015, according to admanGo.
It pointed out that the traditional media categories -- television, paid newspapers, magazines, radio and outdoor display -- recorded decreased advertising last year.
Campaigns on digital media, comprising mobile and interactive segments, went up 5 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively, based on admanGo’s estimates after excluding huge discounts on Television Broadcast’s TVB.com and myTV platforms.
Television remained the top media category for advertising campaigns, with a 30 per cent share last year.
Free newspapers had a 17 per cent share, followed by 15 per cent for outdoor display, 14 per cent for paid newspapers, 10 per cent for online interactive, 7 per cent for magazines, 4 per cent for radio and 3 per cent for mobile.
Data from admanGo showed that campaigns for the cosmetics and skin care industry had the biggest percentage decrease in spending, down 39 per cent year-on-year to HK$1.86 billion.
That was followed by toiletries and household products, which saw a 20 per cent fall to HK$3.01 billion. Continue Reading

Bien Perez
[email protected]
Hong Kong’s advertising market saw a 13 per cent year-on-year drop in spending in 2016, as the weak local economy slowed down marketing campaigns of industries across the board.
“This represents the biggest year-on-year decline for ad spending since we started tracking the market in 1999,” Jennifer Ma, a director at media-monitoring company admanGo, told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.
Advertising expenditure in Hong Kong reached HK$39.8 billion last year, down from HK$45.9 billion in 2015, according to admanGo.
It pointed out that the traditional media categories -- television, paid newspapers, magazines, radio and outdoor display -- recorded decreased advertising last year.
Campaigns on digital media, comprising mobile and interactive segments, went up 5 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively, based on admanGo’s estimates after excluding huge discounts on Television Broadcast’s TVB.com and myTV platforms.
Television remained the top media category for advertising campaigns, with a 30 per cent share last year.
Free newspapers had a 17 per cent share, followed by 15 per cent for outdoor display, 14 per cent for paid newspapers, 10 per cent for online interactive, 7 per cent for magazines, 4 per cent for radio and 3 per cent for mobile.
Data from admanGo showed that campaigns for the cosmetics and skin care industry had the biggest percentage decrease in spending, down 39 per cent year-on-year to HK$1.86 billion.
That was followed by toiletries and household products, which saw a 20 per cent fall to HK$3.01 billion. Continue Reading