Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Beer and alcoholic coolers

Nothing says summer like the steady flow of beer-and-babes advertising on TV every year, so it's not surprising that television is the only medium that experienced increased spending from this category over the past four years. Beer and alcoholic cooler marketers put 47.7% of their total spend into TV in 2001, 54.0% in 2002, moving to a high of 61.4% in 2003 before pulling back slightly last year to 59.3%.

The bulk of the dollars are spent supporting domestic beer brands, ranging from a high of 71.0% of the category spend in 2001 to a low of 58.3% in 2003, rebounding to the 2002 level of 64.4% again in 2004.
By Staff 
July 14, 2005

Nothing says summer like the steady flow of beer-and-babes advertising on TV every year, so it’s not surprising that television is the only medium that experienced increased spending from this category over the past four years. Beer and alcoholic cooler marketers put 47.7% of their total spend into TV in 2001, 54.0% in 2002, moving to a high of 61.4% in 2003 before pulling back slightly last year to 59.3%.

The bulk of the dollars are spent supporting domestic beer brands, ranging from a high of 71.0% of the category spend in 2001 to a low of 58.3% in 2003, rebounding to the 2002 level of 64.4% again in 2004.

Annual National Advertising Spend – Q3 – Beer and alcoholic coolers

Q3 2001 Q3 2002 Q3 2003 Q3 2004
Beer stores operated by
breweries $128,206 271,503 295,733 278,926
Beer: coolers $1,605,366 716,090 691,651 123,850
Beer: domestic $21,906,350 19,073,065 16,343,108 20,938,348
Beer: imported $2,089,626 2,686,021 4,501,918 5,352,773
Breweries: events & promos $2,634,892 2,411,938 2,868,490 1,582,169
Breweries: image & assoc. $138,124 — — —
Coolers: alcoholic $2,336,578 4,458,104 3,333,729 4,238,305
Total $30,839,142 $29,616,721 $28,034,629 $32,514,371

National Q3 Total Spend by Medium

2001

Dailies $1,529,806 (5.0%)
Magazines: $318,122 (1.0%)
Out of Home: $6,928,244 (22.5%)
Radio: $7,357,109 (23.9%)
Total TV: $14,705,861 (47.7%)

2002

Dailies $1,305,017 (4.4%)
Magazines: $461,717 (1.6%)
Out of Home: $6,514,637 (22.0%)
Radio: $5,353,900 (18.1%)
Total TV: $15,981,450 (54.0%)

2003

Dailies $875,490 (3.1%)
Magazines: $256,080 (0.9%)
Out of Home: $4,748,382 (16.9%)
Radio: $4,947,550 (17.6%)
Total TV: $17,207,127 (61.4%)

2004

Dailies $1,052,785 (3.2%)
Magazines: $110,960 (0.3%)
Out of Home: $6,825,036 (21.0%)
Radio: $5,237,262 (16.1%)
Total TV: $19,288,328 (59.3%)

National Q3 2004 – Top 5 Spenders, Beer and alcoholic coolers

1) Molson Coors Brewing Company (Beer – domestic)
2) Interbrew Ambev (Beer – domestic)
3) Molson Coors Brewing Company (Beer – imported)
4) Diageo PLC (Coolers – alcoholic)
5) Sleeman Brewing & Malting Company (Beer – domestic)

The preceding data is from the Nielsen Media Research, AdExpenditures. For more information, please contact Andrea Beach, business manager, andrea.beach@nielsenmedia.com.

All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.