After notable cooling in the third quarter, global ad spending continued the trend further into the fourth quarter, as brands invested equivalent amounts to what they spent in Q4 2013.
While the U.S. midterm elections took place in November, ad spending increased just enough to keep the U.S. at a slight -0.4% decline, while Canadian advertisers were even more cautious, as investments declined -7.4% during the fourth quarter.
Ad spending in the Asia-Pacific ended the year down -0.2%, largely because China and Japan each reported dips in ad spending in the fourth quarter. Better news came from the previously ailing region of Western Europe, which saw spending grow 1.5% for the full year of 2014.
Latin America’s media spending increased by 13.9% during 2014, but these resulted were heavily driven by the FIFA World Cup. After slowing growth in the third quarter (1.5%), the Middle East and Africa’s ad market gained momentum in the fourth quarter, growing by 7.1% and ending the full year at +4.9%.
