Telecoms operators in Nigeria such as MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat topped the list of high spenders on Above-the-Line advertising in 2012 with N15.562bn.
The 2012 edition of Mediafacts, an annual publication of MediaReach, revealed in its latest edition, that MTN topped the list with N5.09bn, followed by Etisalat with N4.40bn.
The report revealed that Airtel and Globacom spent N2.99bn and N2.95bn, respectively.
The four telecoms operators topped the list of the top 20 brands in terms of ad spend last year, the report said.
The publication said total advertising spend on ATL activities fell slightly by 10.6 per cent to N91.846bn in 2012 as against N102.755bn in 2011.
From the total ATL advertising, the publication revealed that telcos spent the highest amount of N15.562bn, representing a decline from the N20.118bn spent in 2011.
The telcos were followed by entertainment, leisure and tourism with N4.988bn while lager beer was third in the product category with N4.784bn.
The publication attributed the drop to reduced media investment of 43.9 per cent on outdoor advertising and 41.7 per cent on press.
Despite the drop in total expenditure, media investment on TV and radio rose by 7.2 per cent and 20.1 per cent, respectively.
Of the N91.846bn spent on advertising in 2012, the Media Reach said television had N49.399bn, radio N15.782bn, outdoor N17.692bn while N8.974bn was spent on the print.
The report further revealed that television advertising closed at N49.399bn as against N46.076bn in 2011.
Radio recorded N15.782bn as against N13.142bn spent in 2011, while N8.974bn was spent on print lesser than the N15.395bnspent in 2011.
Outdoor expenditure gulped N17.692bn compared to N28.142bn spent in 2011, it added.
Mediafacts noted that in 2012, Lagos region accounted for 35.8 per cent or N32.913bn; North, 33.1 per cent or N30.418bn; the West N15.024bn or 16.4 per cent while the Eastern part of Nigeria accounted for the remaining 14.7 per cent or N13.491bn.
The report also noted that Nigeria’s economic market size of about $247bn represented 41 per cent of the entire West Africa GDP, thereby placing the country among the top African economies and a destination of choice for investment in Africa.