- Date:
- 4 Mar 2026
Introduction
This report provides an overview of Victorian Government media advertising expenditure for the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.
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
References
[1] For 2023–24, the relevant Financial Reporting Direction was FRD 22 Standard Disclosures in the Report of Operations (April 2024).
Victorian Government advertising expenditure 2023–24
Compare government advertising expenditure from 2023-24 back to 2013-14
The Victorian Government spent a total of $103.2 million on advertising from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, comprising campaign and non-campaign advertising.
Total government advertising expenditure for 2023–24 and previous years is shown in the chart below.
| Year | Millions |
| 2023-24 | $103.2 |
| 2022-23 | $140.1 |
| 2021-22 | $150.6 |
| 2020-21 | $147.3 |
| 2019-20 | $84.6 |
| 2018-19 | $102.8 |
| 2017-18 | $105.7 |
| 2016-17 | $82.4 |
| 2015-16 | $74.6 |
| 2014-15 | $94.9 |
| 2013-14 | $96.1 |
Total advertising expenditure by category 2023–24
Compare the expenditure on campaign and non-campaign advertising
Campaign advertising accounted for 79 per cent of Victorian Government advertising expenditure in 2023–24.
Non-campaign advertising, comprising functional and recruitment advertising, accounted for the remaining 21 per cent of advertising expenditure for the year.
Victorian Government advertising expenditure by departments and agencies 2023–24
A picture of the what departments and agencies are spending on campaigns versus functional and recruitment advertising combined
The chart below shows Victorian Government expenditure by government departments and government agencies, as a percentage of total advertising expenditure for the 2023–24 financial year (comprising campaign, functional, and recruitment advertising).
In 2023–24, government agencies (such as Visit Victoria, the Transport Accident Commission and WorkSafe Victoria) accounted for 70 per cent of total government advertising expenditure, while government departments (such as the Department of Education) accounted for 30 per cent of advertising expenditure.
Top 10 Victorian Government advertisers by campaign expenditure 2023–24
Ranking of the top ten departments and agencies in terms of spend on campaign advertising
| Rank | Advertiser | Example campaigns | Advertising expenditure (ex. GST) |
| 1 | TAC | TAC undertakes significant road safety campaigns in conjunction with media partners across TV, radio, digital and targeted multicultural and sports media channels. Also includes a significant partnership with out-of-home (OOH) media suppliers across Victoria to reach drivers while on the road. Specific 2023–24 campaigns targeted dangerous driving behaviours such as speeding, distracted driving, and drink and drug driving, and motorcycle safety. | $14,995,593 |
| 2 | Visit Victoria | Major campaigns to support the Victorian tourism sector, including the major new ‘Victoria/Melbourne: Every Bit Different’ campaign, promoting Melbourne and regional Victoria to local and interstate audiences. | $12,859,868 |
| 3 | Department of Justice and Community Safety | Included major seasonal campaigns to improve community understanding of fire and fire risk, including the Fire Danger Rating System, and increase water safety and reduce drowning incidents. Also undertook a recruitment campaign to attract applicants to careers in corrections and youth justice. | $5,955,681 |
| 4 | Department of Transport and Planning | Various campaigns under the Victoria’s Big Build brand, informing the public about disruptions associated with major transport infrastructure projects, such as the Metro Tunnel, Regional Rail Revival, Level Crossing Removal Project, North East Link Project and the West Gate Tunnel Project. Also included a new Myki ticketing campaign, and public transport safety campaigns on driving with buses and pedestrian safety. | $5,921,670 |
| 5 | Victoria Police | Victoria Police undertook Major campaigns to attract new recruits to Victoria Police and to promote the Police Assistance Line and the Online Reporting portal. | $5,175,907 |
| 6 | Department of Education | Local and interstate recruitment campaigns to attract teachers to the early childhood and primary and secondary school sectors. Campaigns also highlighted the Free Kinder and Kinder Tick programs, and the ‘Many Talents One VCE’ campaign, increasing awareness of changes to VCE vocational pathways. | $4,945,738 |
| 7 | WorkSafe Victoria | WorkSafe Victoria undertook major campaigns to prevent work-related violence, improve safety in the agriculture industry, reduce gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace, and improve workplace safety for young workers. | $3,571,045 |
| 8 | Department of Health | Major campaigns to recruit mental health professionals to work in Victoria and encourage Victorians to contact 000 for emergencies only. Also undertook various public health and safety campaigns, including promoting mental health and wellbeing services, public fertility care services, winter COVID/flu health prevention, and prevention of mosquito-borne diseases. | $2,429,695 |
| 9 | National Gallery of Victoria | Annual campaign promoting the range of exhibits and events at NGV in 2023–24, including Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi, Triennial 2023 exhibition, Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2024: Pharaoh, and Africa Fashion. | $1,773,777 |
| 10 | Department of Families, Fairness and Housing | Campaigns included the ‘Jobs that Matter’ Community Services Sector workforce recruitment campaign and the ‘Go Where You’re Needed’ Child Protection Workforce Recruitment campaign. | $1,739,980 |
Note: The above table contains consolidated campaign advertising expenditure data provided to the Department of Premier and Cabinet by OMD for the 2023–24 financial year. These figures include all paid campaign advertising undertaken via the government’s MAMS contract, including expenditure on campaigns with a media buy of less than $100,000.
Expenditure figures presented in this report may differ from those published in the annual reports of government departments and public bodies, which are required to report only campaigns with a media value of $100,000 or more. Expenditure reported in annual reports may also include the value of media partnerships/sponsorships, and the costs of production and other fees associated with advertising campaigns.
Major functional and recruitment advertisers 2023–24
A list of the key departments and agencies spending on non-campaign advertising
Functional advertising
In 2023–24, the highest spending government bodies for functional advertising were the Department of Transport and Planning, the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions.
Recruitment advertising
In 2023–24, the highest spending government bodies for recruitment advertising were the Department of Health, Department of Justice and Community Safety and the Department of Education.
Government advertising by channel 2023–24
A picture of which media channels are attracting a higher proportion of government advertising spend
The chart below shows percentage of total government advertising expenditure for 2023–24 per advertising channel. This includes all government advertising: campaign, functional, and recruitment.
Expenditure for 2023–24 showed advertising via digital and social media platforms accounted for 52.8 per cent of the government’s total spend, increasing from 46.6 per cent in 2022–23.
In 2023–24, expenditure on television advertising decreased to 9.4 per cent of all advertising, compared to 15.0 per cent in 2022–23, while expenditure on radio advertising decreased slightly to 10.8 per cent in 2023–24 (compared to 11.6 per cent in 2022–23).
Outdoor advertising comprised 15.4 per cent, similar to the 15.7 per cent recorded in 2022–23, while press advertising increased slightly to 10.4 per cent of total advertising expenditure (compared to 9.4 per cent in 2022–23).
Digital 52.8%; Outdoor 15.4%; Radio 10.8%; Press 10.4%; Television 9.4%; Cinema 0.6%; Magazines 0.3%; and Other 0.3%
Government campaign advertising by communication priority areas 2023-24
Where government campaign expenditure is focused in terms of government priorities
All campaign advertising undertaken by the Victorian Government during 2023–24 fulfilled one of five ‘priority areas’ for government communication:
- Public safety and behaviour change
- Building social cohesion, civic pride and community spirit
- Supporting commercial and economic investment in Victoria
- Generation of revenue to support Victorian institutions and events
- Ensuring compliance with legislative requirements.
The chart below shows 2023–24 expenditure for each communication priority area, as a proportion of the government’s total expenditure on campaign advertising.
Public safety and behaviour change 54.3%; Generation of revenue for institutions and events 36.6%; Commercial and economic investment 5.0%; Social cohesion,civic pride and community spirit 3.6%; Compliance with legislative requirements 0.4%
Victorian Government communication targets
The Victorian Government is committed to communicating with all Victorians and has advertising expenditure targets for regional and multicultural media to help ensure effective communication with these audiences.
Regional media campaign advertising expenditure
The Victorian Government's Regional Communication Policy requires that government departments and agencies place 15 per cent of their annual campaign media expenditure in Victoria with regional and rural media.
This includes, but is not limited to, dedicated regional press, radio and outdoor media buys for Victorian regional or rural audiences. The government also uses digital and social media advertising to reach audiences in regional Victoria.
In 2023-24, the Victorian Government spent $18.5 million on campaign advertising for regional and rural audiences in Victoria (including via digital and social media) This figure represents 25.4 per cent of the government's total campaign advertising budget in Victoria. This result is well above the 15 percent regional media expenditure target for government campaign advertising.
Multicultural media campaign advertising expenditure
For 2023-24, the Victorian Government's Multicultural Communications Policy required that government departments and agencies commit a minimum of 15 per cent of their total campaign media expenditure in Victoria toward multicultural media. this minimum campaign expenditure requirement increased from 5 per cent for 2022-23 and prior years, to 15 per cent for 2023-24 onwards.
In 2023-24, the Victorian Government spent $10.6 million on campaign advertising targeting multicultural audiences in Victoria, across both 'traditional' and digital media (including social media platforms).
This expenditure represents 14.95 per cent of the government's total campaign advertising budget in Victoria.
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