The Australian government spent $116.9 million on advertising across all departments in 2010/11 compared to $114.7 million in 2009-10. The figures were released as part of the Campaign Advertising by Australian Government Departments and Agencies Full Year Report 2010-11, which was presented to parliament in early October.
The money was spent on a variety of public information campaigns including Digital Switchover, Paid Parental Leave and Water for the Future. The most expensive campaigns were Defence Force Recruiting ($17.4 million) and National Tobacco Campaign ($17.3 million). The figures include budgets used for market research and polling.
Only campaigns that cost more than $250,000 were itemised in the report. The breakdown of spending across different types of media, including smaller campaigns, was as follows:
- Television: $43.4 million
- Press: $23.8 million
- Radio: $16.2 million
- Digital: $16.2 million
- Magazine: $6.3 million
- Other: $11 million
The government media buying process is centralised to maximise buying power. The Central Advertising System utilises a Communications Multi-Use List of specialist communications agencies who conform to government standards and uses these agencies to roll-out each information campaign.
