NEW DELHI: Ad spends grew by a substantial 6.4 per cent in the first half of 2013, making it the largest growth among different regions of the world.

Marketers continue to gradually increase their global ad spending, as expenditures grew 3.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 and 2.8 percent on a year-over-year basis for the January-June periods of 2013 and 2012, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report.

Although many marketers remain conservative with advertising budgets, those in Latin America continue to buck the norm, increasing their expenditures by 13.1 percent (to $13.5 billion) for the January-June period.

All regions contributed to global growth for the first half of the year except Europe, where marketers remain modest with their ad budgets amid the regions’ continued fiscal crisis, resulting in a six percent decline for the period. Ad spend continued to recover after slumping during the economic downturn, with growth of 3.9 percent in the Middle East and Africa, and 2.7 percent in North America.

Argentina contributed significantly to growth for the Latin America region with nearly 30 per cent growth. Indonesia, China and the Philippines all contributed to double-digit ad growth in Asia-Pacific for the first half of 2013, with expenditures reaching $51 billion. In Europe, ad spend increased in Norway, Switzerland, and Greece (2.5 per cent, 0.6 per cent, and 7.4 per cent respectively), while expenditures declined in all other countries in the region.

Nielsen Global AdView Pulse measures ad spending for TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, cinema and Internet display advertising. Ad spend is based mainly on published rate-cards. Some markets may exclude select media due to data availability.

The external data sources for the other countries included in the report are:

Argentina: IBOPE
Brazil: IBOPE
Croatia: Nielsen in association with Ipsos
Egypt: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
France: Yacast
Greece: Media Services
Hong Kong: admanGo
Japan: Nihon Daily Tsushinsha
Kuwait: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Lebanon: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Mexico: IBOPE
Pan-Arab Media: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Portugal: Mediamonitor
Saudi Arabia: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
Spain: Arce Media
Switzerland: Nielsen in association with Media Focus
UAE: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)