Airlines overtaken on TV

AUSTRALIA’S airlines have been overtaken as the biggest travel presence on television, with online aggregators now wielding larger budgets for small- screen advertising.

Figures from media and data company Nielsen ( TD yesterday) show major websites like Trivago, TripAdvisor and Hotels Combined favour television as their main promotional channel, spending millions of dollars more than the major carriers.

Trivago is now the top television advertising spender in the Australian travel sector, having secured airtime worth $19.3 million over the past year.

It was followed by TripAdvisor ($10.7m) and Hotels Combined ($10.5m), with Flight Centre in fourth place ($8.9m) and the biggest spending airline, Jetstar, in fifth ($8m).

Other big spenders on television included WebJet ($7.2m), Expedia ($6.9m), Royal Caribbean International ($6.9m),Qantas ($5.9m) and Scenic ($5.5m).

The figures are based on rack-rate equivalents and do not include volume discounts.

They cover a period of almost one year, from 04 Jun 2017 to 19 May 2018.

While the online firms dominate television, metropolitan press remains the travel industry’s preferred advertising medium.

Imagine Cruising ($53.6m), Ignite Travel ($45.8m) and TripADeal ($32.6m) are the biggest mainstream press advertisers.

Despite the dominance of online companies, digital advertising remains a relatively minor vehicle for travel companies.

Flight Centre ($3.9m) is the top digital spender, leading Trivago ($3.3m) and Booking.com ($1.7m).