The Spanish advertising industry has consolidated its recovery after the impact of the pandemic, improving, in the last year, among other things, in the number of active professionals, in business volume or in sales figures. advertising investment. However, taking into account the long-term evolution, the sector’s contribution to GDP continues to decline, as does its representation in the service sector as a whole.

These are some of the conclusions that can be drawn from the tenth edition of the Advertising Observatory in Spain 2024driven by the Spanish Association of Advertisers (AEA). The study presents an x-ray of the main economic and structural indicators of the sector, and on this occasion, it includes the performance of the industry in 2022 and 2023 with data from official sources.

Below we highlight the main data:

Economic activity of advertising

One of the most relevant data in the report is the contribution of the aggregate investment of advertising activity – obtained from advertising investment and the wage bill – to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which registers a new decline and consolidates a negative trajectory. In 2023 it stood at 1.21%, dropping six points compared to the previous year, according to the latest figures from the INE – EPA (National Institute of Statistics and Active Population Survey).

Looking at the last five years, the contribution of advertising activity has fallen by more than one point, since in 2019 the figure stood at 1.32%. In 2022, a slight rebound (1.27%) was recorded, which, however, does not break the negative trend.

As for the “Advertising and Market Research” business volume, The figure in absolute terms reached 19,849 million euros in 2022, which represents a growth of 8.5% compared to 18,299 million in 2021.
However, when studied in relative terms, the turnover of the total service sector, like the contribution to GDP, is also on a downward trajectory. Thus, it has gone from 3.54% in 2018 to 2.79% in 2022.

Advertising business fabric

As the report points out, andIn 2023 the pace of business creation slowed, a situation that breaks with the upward trend that has been observed for at least the last four years. This parameter experienced a drop of -5.1%, and placed the number of companies dedicated to advertising at 45,641, compared to 48,072 in 2022, according to the INE.DIRCE (National Institute of Statistics. Central Business Directory).
Also the number of companies dedicated to market research falls, standing at 2,869, compared to 3,534 the previous year.

However, the study indicates that the Advertising and Market Research sector increased its percentage in the Spanish business fabric one tenth to reach 1.6%, mainly due to the general decrease in the number of companies (-213,375) in practically all sectors.

It should be noted that 31% (15,161) of The companies have been created in the last year, and that organizations with more than 12 years have decreased to 17.2% (2,901). Only 6.7% of companies are more than 20 years old.

The advertising business fabric maintains the geographical concentration, Since by region, Madrid and Catalonia have the most advertising companies, with 12,367 and 10,730, respectively.

Investment in advertising

With regards to advertising investment in 2023Infoadex data indicate that it reached 12,700.8 million euros, which represents an increase of 4% compared to the previous year. Thus, it continues on the path of recovery, reaching figures like those of 2016, but still slightly below those obtained in 2018 or 2019.

Breaking down the data, the controlled media obtained 5,901.10 million euros. Of these, the greatest volume of investment is concentrated in Digitalwith 2,810.4 million euros, followed by Television (1,735 million) and Radio (461.3 million).
However, in terms of growth, it stands out Abroadwith 16.1%, followed by Digital, with 5.2%.

Regarding investment by sectors, it is led by Distribution and Restoration (551 million euros), and registering a growth of 10.9%. Companies in the Cleaning, Textile and Clothing, Energy and those included in the Miscellaneous heading have also registered double-digit increases.
On the other hand, Tobacco (-68%), Office and Commerce Equipment (-43.3%), and Construction (-23.4%), Beverages (-7.1%), are those with the greatest decreases.

Employment and advertising

In the field of employment, the data from the Active Population Survey (EPA), regarding “Advertising and Market Studies” points to a growth of 4.3% in the number of active professionals, which in 2023 reached 121,600; and 3.6% in busy professionals, placing the figure at 117,200. On the other hand, a decrease of -8% was observed in the salaried (83,500).

However, the report recalls that the advertising employment volume It is much higher since these figures do not include freelance professionals or the communication and advertising departments of companies and institutions.

Focusing on salary, average annual salary In creative agencies it has fallen to 53,900 euros, falling from 57,900 in the 2017-2018 academic year. On the other hand, the average salary in media agencies has grown to reach 68,000 euros, compared to 65,400 six years ago.

Advertising training

attending to trainingdifferences are observed depending on the disciplines. Thus, Advertising and public relations remains on a downward trend, having registered 12,635 students in the 2023-2024 academic year, compared to 13,973 in the 2019-2020 academic year. Marketing, on the other hand, continues to grow, with 14,351 students last year compared to 12,344 four years ago.
In addition, there are a total of 4,824 students graduating in the sum of Marketing and Advertising and Public Relations.

More info.: Advertising Observatory in Spain 2024