Currency competition: Austria's companies are fighting for advertising market!

Currency competition: Austria's companies are fighting for advertising market!

In the first half of 2025, the companies reported a decline in advertising spending in Austria. According to Leadersnet , investments in the above-the-line area dropped by a total of 1.3 percent compared to the previous year. Despite this declining tendency, the ten leading companies have continued to invest heavily in advertising. At the top is Rewe, who spent almost 131 million euros, followed by Spar with 120.6 million euros and XXXLutz with 96.8 million euros.

The Focus market researchers pointed out that in January 2025 the gross advertising expenditure was still about five percent above the previous year's level. The decline in May and June, with a minus of five or twelve percent, had a decisive influence on the half -year balance sheet. A total of around 2.3 billion euros were spent on advertising in the first half of 2025, which increases the concerns about market constitution.

The trend towards classic media and online advertising

A lower demand in the print area was striking. All genres recorded declines, with daily newspapers had the most stable development. This also becomes clear in an analysis of the courier, which showed that the domestic advertising market in 2024 grew by 7.2 percent to a volume of 7.13 billion euros, with classic media recording an increase of 6.2 percent. Especially in the area of print, gross advertising expenditure landed at 1.78 billion euros and grew by 1.3 percent.

in the digital area, which is primarily powered by video streaming and social media, a moderate growth of over five percent can be observed. The external acquisition sector experienced a positive development with an increase of 5.2 percent, while the cinema had to accept a striking decline and recorded significant losses compared to the previous year.

forecasts and future developments

The future of the Austrian advertising market remains uncertain. The “Austrian advertising market study 2025” predicts a marginally growth of 0.7 percent. It is therefore important that companies rethink their strategies and focus more on digital advertising. The focus is increasingly on personalized and performance-oriented advertising measures, which is supported by an increase in dialog marketing in print forms. Important channels are influencer marketing that records an enormous increase in 35 percent.

The study emphasizes that digital outer advertising has grown by 19 percent. Despite the challenges in front of which the print area is facing, print media are still considered a credible and informative form of advertising. The use of podcasts also increases, which shows that companies have to think and act innovatively in order to remain successful in the constantly changing advertising landscape. It is all the more important to adapt to consumption behavior and new trends in order to exploit the full potential of advertising expenses. Druckmedien reports that events and POS activities after a pandemy-related decline experience a renaissance.