Introduction

Media advertising expenditure

The Victorian Government purchases the majority of its advertising through the government's Master Agency Media Services (MAMS) state purchase contract.

The MAMS contract is managed by the Department of Government Services and covers media planning and buying on behalf of all Victorian Government public sector bodies.

For more information about the MAMS contract visit the MAMS page on the Victorian Government procurement website.

Government advertising categories

The Victorian Government classifies paid advertising into three categories:

• Campaign advertising, which is designed to inform, educate, motivate or change behavior. It requires strategic planning of creative and media buying to achieve set objectives.
• Functional advertising, which is intended 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, enrollment notices, statutory o 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 bodies - such as that undertaken by Victorian Police - is usually considered 'campaign' advertising.

Collectively, functional and recruitment advertising are referred to as 'non-campaign' advertising.

For 2023-24, Optimum Media Direction Pty Ltd (OMD) was the government's MAMS supplier for all campaign advertising and most 'non-campaign' advertising. The expenditure figures presented in this report include expenditure data supplied by OMD.

Expenditure on major government campaigns

Each year, government departments and public bodies publish information within their annual reports about their expenditure on major advertisng campaigns, as required by the relevant Financial Reporting Direction.[1]

For the 2023-24 financial year, departments and government 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 an end date of the campaign
• a summary of the campaign
• details of approved, planned and actual campaign expenditure for the reporting period (exclusive of GST)

Government advertising plans

Each year the Victorian Government publishes an annual advertising plan, which provides an overview of government advertising campaigns for that year.

Victorian Government Advertising Plans are available on the vic.gov.au website