The Uefa Euro 2012 football tournament and 2012 Olympic Games will help to increase net European television advertising revenue by 5.4 per cent in 2012 to $40.7 billion (€32.6 billion), according to research company Informa Telecoms & Media.
The uplift follows a three-per-cent increase in 2011, and an increase of 9.9 per cent in 2010, when the Fifa World Cup in South Africa helped to boost spending.
“While economic growth for Europe looks likely to be flat in 2012, our research has found that most European broadcasters expect to post some strong second-quarter and third-quarter advertising numbers due to the Euros and then the Olympics,” Adam Thomas, Informa’s media research manager, said. “A drop-off is expected in the fourth quarter of 2012 but the mid-year boost will be sufficient to ensure that TV advertising comfortably outperforms GDP growth.”
Informa said revenues from countries in Western Europe would account for $30.1 billion of the total and Eastern Europe would contribute $10.6 billion.
The Informa figures represent net advertising after taking into account agency commissions, production costs and discounts.