PMO splurges on ads ahead of polls

The Prime Minister's Department (PMO) was the biggest spender in advertisements for the month of February.

According to Maybank Investment Bank Research note on March 19, the PMO spent RM36.1 million, leaving consumer products giant Unilever Malaysia a distant second at RM13 million.

PMO alone accounts of 7 percent of total gross advertisement expenditure for that month.

"Major beneficiaries were Media Prima and Astro's TV and radio stations," read the note.

The ruling party, BN, also made it into the top 20 list, spending RM4.9 billion in that month alone.

"We expect ad spend by both PMO and BN to sustain ahead of the 13th general election, which is now widely expected to be called in April 2013," read the note.