Published by Gbaf News
Posted on March 28, 2015
4 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Overview
The Headline Global Marketing Index (GMI) for March registered a value of 57.0, up by 0.3 on its value in February. This is the third successive month that the Index has increased indicating marketers are continuing to experience strong business activity across the world. Robust marketing activity was recorded in each region with values for the Headline GMI of 57.0 in Europe, 58.6 in the Asia-Pacific area and 57.1 in the Americas respectively. In all regions the Index rose on its value in February.
Marketing Budgets by Medium
The global survey showed that in March the marketing budget allocation by medium across the world, saw a continuing reduction in finance allocated to TV. It has joined the other traditional media in their losing of marketing budget share, while digital and mobile continued to soar.
Panellists recorded that the absolute amount spent on TV budgets across the world fell in March with the Index registering a value of 48.4, down by 1.4. This decline follows six months with the Index oscillating around the 50.0 no change level. The collapse of TV budgets was most evident in the Americas where the Index value registered fell by 1.3 to 43.3. No growth has occurred in TV budgets in this region since August 2013. In the Asia-Pacific region the TV budget Index fell by 1.2 to 47.1, the eleventh successive month that the resources allocated to the medium has fallen Only in Europe did TV budgets continue to grow at a modest pace with an Index value of 53.8 in March down by 2.5 on the previous month.
Mobile and Digital continued their courses of rapid growth, The Index for expenditure on Mobile rose by 2.0 to reach 74.2 in March, the sixth successive month that the value of the Index has risen. This pattern of rapid and accelerating growth was witnessed across all regions. Similarly, panellists saw the money allocated to Digital grew at a rapid rate with an Index value recorded of 77.5 up by 1.9 on its February value. The most rapid expansion of this medium occurred in the Americas region where the Index expanded by 3.3 to attain a value of 76.7.
Expenditure on Print maintained its downward plummet with the value of the Global Index in March falling by 1.5 to 33.6. In Europe, the medium reached 30.9 having declined by 1.6.
The Index values for Radio and Out-of-Home (OOH) both signalled falling amounts of spent on these media across the globe with Index values of 41.5 in March, down by 1.7 and 47.3, up by 0.1 respectively. In all regions for both media the Index recorded values below the 50.0 no change level, but in the Americas Radio dropped by 1.5 in March to reach an Index value of 39.1.
Global Marketing Budgets
The Index for Global Marketing Budgets growth dropped by 1.2 in March to register a value of 53.5. This is the 25th consecutive month that the Index has registered that panellists were experiencing rises in the amount of resources devoted to marketing.
Marketing Budgets by Region
The monthly changes in Marketing Budgets exhibited expansion for all regions in March although at a decelerating rate of growth. In the Americas the rate of growth in marketing budgets fell by 0.9 to reach a level of 52.4 indicating much slower growth. In Europe, the Marketing Budgets Index fell by 1.1 to reach a value of 54.2 and it declined by 1.7 on the month before to a value of 54.8 in the Asia-Pacific region.
Staffing Levels
The Staffing Index reflects the number of staff taken on compared to the same period last year.
The Staffing Level Index registered a value of 59.1 in March, up by 1.7 on the previous month indicating that marketing departments are still adding staff. On a regional basis, the Staffing Levels Index was up by 1.5 in Europe at 58.7. In the Americas was up by 1.3 to reach 60.3 and by 2.1 in the Asia-Pacific region attaining a value of 58.8.
World Economics Chief Executive Ed Jones commented on the release:
“The Headline Global Marketing Index reading for March indicates that marketing budgets are expanding in all regions, although at a decelerating rate. TV expenditure is falling across the world and in all regions apart from Europe leading to fears that it could join other traditional media in a downward death spiral as the money spent on Mobile and Digital rises faster.”
http://www.worldeconomics.com/GlobalMarketingIndex/GMI.efp
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