The Australian Commonwealth Government is the top advertiser of 2021, according to a new report on advertising by Neilsen with data from January to December 2021.
In a year where Covid ruled the headlines, advertising to increase vaccination numbers for the general public and across a range of community groups was stepped up.
Following the Federal Government in the top spot, was the Victorian and New South Wales Governments in third and fifth spot, respectively.
Similarly to the state governments advertising efforts helped to draw more focus to boost vaccine numbers amid the Delta and Omicron outbreaks.
The Queensland Government ranked in 19th place, just before the Westpac Banking Corporation in 20th.
Though the government ruled majority of the top five, retailer Harvey Norman Holdings held the second place in the rankings, while fourth spot was supermarket chain Woolworths.
In terms of total estimated spend per industry, retail was at the top with $2.316 million according to the Neilsen report.
Communication followed with $1.001 million and the finance sector with $731.2 million in third place.
In fourth was motor vehicles with a spend of $653 million, followed by entertainment and leisure in fifth with $535.6 million.
Meanwhile, the government’s total estimated spend from January to December 2021 was $328.6 million, ahead of media at $296.5 million and gambling/gaming at $281.2 million.
In the first half of 2021, Harvey Norman Holdings was the top ranking advertising group in ad spend according to the Neilsen report at the time.