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Introduction
This report provides an overview of Victorian Government media advertising expenditure for the period 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.
Media advertising expenditure
The Victorian Government purchases media through the whole of Victorian Government Master Agency Media Services (MAMS) state purchase contract.
The MAMS contract covers media planning and buying on behalf of government, and is managed by the Department of Treasury and Finance.
Victorian Public Sector organisations that used the MAMS contract during 2017–18 qualified for significantly discounted government media rates. These included:
- all Victorian Government departments
- public bodies (which include, but are not limited to, statutory authorities, public entities, special bodies and other users). Examples include the Transport Accident Commission, Visit Victoria, WorkSafe Victoria, Ambulance Victoria, TAFE institutes, VicRoads and the Victorian Electoral Commission.
For more information check the MAMS procurement page.
Government advertising categories
The Victorian Government classifies paid media advertising into three categories:
- Campaign advertising, which is designed to inform, educate, motivate or change behaviour. It requires strategic planning of creative and media services to achieve set objectives.
- Functional advertising, which is specifically used to provide the public with information, and is generally simple and informative and only appears for a short time. Examples include public notices, notifications of public meetings, requests for tender, enrolment notices, statutory or regulatory notices, and emergency or safety announcements.
- Recruitment advertising, which is used to promote a specific job vacancy or a limited number of roles. Larger scale, industry-wide recruitment by government is usually classed as 'campaign' advertising.
Collectively, functional and recruitment advertising are referred to as ‘non-campaign’ advertising.
During the 2017–18 financial year, Dentsu Mitchell provided campaign advertising services to government, while ZenithOptimedia provided functional and recruitment advertising services.* However, during the 2017–18 financial year the Victorian Government MAMS contract was put out to tender.
MediaCom Australia was the successful tenderer and took over as supplier for these services on 1 December 2017.
This report is based on advertising expenditure data provided to the Department of Premier and Cabinet by Dentsu Mitchell, ZenithOptimedia and MediaCom Australia for the 2017–18 financial year.
* From 1 December 2017, MediaCom Australia commenced as the Victorian Government's sole MAMS provider for both campaign and non-campaign advertising.
Expenditure on major government campaigns
Each year, government departments and public bodies publish information within their annual reports about their expenditure on major advertising campaigns, as required by the relevant Financial Reporting Direction. (For 2017–18, the relevant Financial Reporting Direction was FRD 22H Standard disclosures in the Report of Operations (May 2017).)
For 2017–18, departments and bodies are required to report on advertising campaigns with a total media spend of $100,000 or greater (exclusive of GST), including:
- the name of the advertising campaign
- the start and end date of the campaign
- a summary of the campaign
- details of campaign expenditure for the reporting period (exclusive of GST).
This reporting is collated and summarised in the Victorian Government Advertising Campaign Activity Summary 2017–18, available on the vic.gov.au website.
Government advertising plan for 2017–18
Each year the Victorian Government publishes an annual advertising plan, which provides an overview of government advertising campaigns planned for that year.
The Victorian Government Advertising Plan for 2017–18 is available on the vic.gov.au website.
Victorian Government advertising expenditure 2017–18
The Victorian Government spent a total of $105.7 million on media advertising from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, including both campaign and non-campaign advertising.
Total government advertising expenditure – historical comparison
Total government advertising expenditure for 2017–18 and previous years is shown in the chart below.
Total advertising expenditure by category 2017–18
Campaign advertising accounted for 84% of Victorian Government advertising expenditure in 2017–18. Non-campaign advertising, comprising functional and recruitment advertising, accounted for the remaining 16% of advertising expenditure for the year.
Campaign and non-campaign advertising expenditure by departments and agencies 2017–18
The chart below shows Victorian Government expenditure by government departments and government agencies, for campaign and non-campaign advertising, as a percentage of total advertising expenditure for 2017–18.
In 2017–18, government agencies (such as WorkSafe Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission) accounted for 73% of total government advertising expenditure, while government departments (such as the Department of Justice and Regulation) accounted for the remaining 27% of expenditure.
The Victorian Government Advertising Campaign Activity Summary 2017–18 provides a summary of major government campaigns undertaken in 2017–18.
Top 10 advertisers by campaign expenditure 2017–18
| Rank | Advertiser | Example campaigns | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Transport Accident Commission (TAC) | Numerous road safety campaigns targeting excessive speed and drink and drug driving, encouraging parents to model positive behaviour for future drivers, improving road safety for motorcyclists, and ongoing seasonal campaigns targeting fatigue and holiday road safety. | $12,558,982 |
| 2 | Visit Victoria | Various intrastate and interstate campaigns to promote Victoria as a tourist destination, including a major new campaign to promote Melbourne to interstate visitors. Other campaigns promoted tourism in regional Victoria and Melbourne’s schedule of major events in 2017–18. | $10,998,170 |
| 3 | Department of Health and Human Services | Family Violence campaign ‘Save Lives, Save 000 For Emergencies’ ambulance campaign, Influenza, Fostering Connections and Heat Health/Extreme Heat Warnings campaigns. | $8,269,988 |
| 4 | WorkSafe Victoria |
Numerous campaigns, including the ‘Getting back’ return-to-work and ‘Bad Days’ enforcement campaigns, and the launch of a campaign promoting awareness of mental and physical workplace safety. Ongoing campaigns also targeted quad bike farm safety and asbestos, and violence against healthcare workers. |
$6,659,497 |
| 5 | Department of Justice and Regulation | 2017–18 summer fire safety and awareness campaign, and the summer Play it Safe by the Water campaign. | $4,617,315 |
| 6 | Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation | Campaigns to reduce harm caused by gambling, including help and early intervention campaigns for gamblers, 100 Day Challenge and the ‘Love the game, not the odds’ campaign targeting the normalisation of gambling in sport. | $4,494,944 |
| 7 | Victoria Police | Advertising, communication and marketing activities for the recruitment of Victoria Police Officers. | $3,374,742 |
| 8 | Department of Education and Training | Various campaigns to promote the Victorian TAFE sector, including the ‘TAFE Will Take You There’ campaign, as well as campaigns to prevent children being left in cars and to support the Victorian State Schools Spectacular. | $3,168,098 |
| 9 | Public Transport Victoria | Night Network – 24-hour weekend public transport, Know Your Bus, Auto Top Up, Safety You Can See, High Capacity Metro Trains, and myki commuter club campaigns. | $3,076,430 |
| 10 | Level Crossing Removal Authority | Various advertising campaigns to inform the community of disruptions associated with level crossing removals across Melbourne. | $2,855,086 |
Note: Media expenditure figures reported above exclude GST, production costs and other fees. Expenditure figures presented in this report may differ from those published in departments’ and public bodies’ annual reports, which may include production and other fees associated with advertising campaigns.
Major functional and recruitment advertisers 2017–18
Functional advertising
In 2017–18, the highest spending departments and agencies for functional advertising were VicRoads, Public Transport Victoria, Melbourne Water, V/Line, Victorian Electoral Commission, Energy Safe Victoria, Melbourne Metro Rail Authority, Transport Accident Commission, Level Crossing Removal Authority and The Gordon TAFE.
Recruitment advertising
In 2017–18, the highest spending departments and agencies for recruitment advertising were Corrections Victoria, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice and Regulation, North East Link Authority and Victoria Police.
Government advertising by channel 2017–18
The chart below shows percentage of total government advertising expenditure for 2017–18 per advertising channel.
Expenditure for 2017–18 showed a slight increase in the proportion of advertising via television and outdoor, while expenditure on internet/digital advertising and press advertising decreased slightly compared to 2016–17.
In 2017–18, internet/digital advertising accounted for 29.9% of all government advertising, compared to 32% in 2016–17 (however, this still represents an increase on the 27% figure recorded in 2015–16).
Television accounted for 25.5% of total advertising expenditure in 2017–18, compared to 22% in 2016–17, while outdoor advertising increased to 11.8% (compared to 10.1% in 2016–17). Press advertising expenditure continued to decrease compared to previous years – in 2017–18 press advertising represented 15.2% of advertising expenditure, a decrease from 17% in 2016–17.
Government campaign advertising by communication priority areas
All campaign advertising undertaken by the Victorian Government during 2017–18 fulfilled one of five ‘priority areas’ for government communication. These priority areas are outlined in the Victorian Government Advertising Plan 2017–18:
- Public safety and behaviour change
- Building social cohesion and community spirit
- Supporting commercial and economic investment in Victoria
- Generation of revenue to support Victorian institutions and events
- Ensuring compliance with legislation.
The chart below shows 2017–18 expenditure for each communication priority area as a proportion of the government’s total expenditure on campaign advertising.
Victorian Government communication targets
The Victorian Government is committed to communicating with all Victorians and has annual advertising expenditure targets for regional and multicultural media to help ensure effective communication with these audiences.
Regional media campaign advertising expenditure
The Victorian Government Regional Communication Policy requires that government departments and agencies place 15% of their annual campaign media expenditure with regional and rural media.
This includes, but is not limited to, dedicated regional press, radio, television, outdoor media buys and significant media partnerships and sponsorships that can be identified as ‘regional or rural’.
Internet and digital advertising can also be used to communicate effectively with regional audiences; however, currently these channels are not consistently classified as 'regional or rural' media. For this reason, expenditure on internet and digital advertising is not included in the government’s regional advertising expenditure total for 2017–18.
In 2017–18, the Victorian Government spent $12,946,012 on campaign advertising through regional and rural media, such as press, radio, television and outdoor advertising.
This figure represents 20.1% of the government’s total campaign advertising expenditure undertaken through non-digital media (that is, press, radio, television and outdoor advertising).
This result is above the 15% regional media expenditure target required under the government’s Regional Communication Policy.
Multicultural media campaign advertising expenditure
The Victorian Government Multicultural Communication Policy requires that government departments and agencies commit a minimum of five per cent of their total campaign media expenditure towards multicultural media.
In 2017–18, the Victorian Government spent $3,147,444 on campaign advertising through ‘traditional’ (non-digital) multicultural media. This includes expenditure on print, radio and television advertising (but does not include expenditure on digital media).
This expenditure represents 5 per cent of the government’s total campaign advertising expenditure on print, radio and television advertising during 2017–18. This total meets the five per cent multicultural campaign advertising expenditure target required under the Multicultural Communication Policy.
In 2018 the Department of Premier and Cabinet established a specialist multicultural communications team within the Strategic Communication, Engagement and Protocol Branch. The team has been tasked with improving government communication with multicultural communities through commissioning research and providing tailored advice to campaign managers across government on audience identification and media channel selection.
Government communication policies and guidelines
Victorian Government communication policies and guidelines ensure that government communication is effective, well managed and responsive to the diverse needs of the Victorian community. Policies and guidelines are reviewed and updated from time to time as needed.
Current policies and guidelines are located on the vic.gov.au website.
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