Gavranovic presented these statistics at a recent international conference of southeastern European journalists and editors who gathered in the northern Croatian coastal resort of Opatija.
In case these data are correct, this means that annual media adspend in Croatia exceeded one percent of the state budget, which a German media expert, Michael Klem, interpreted as an indicator that Croatia was among medium-developed countries.
The most developed countries in this segment have annual ad spending higher than two percent of their state budgets.
According to a five-year survey conducted by ZenithOptimedia about advertising expenditures per capita in the period from 2001 to 2005, Croatia finished as the 31st-ranked country immediately after most developed countries. The survey covered 66 countries.
In 2001, Croatia spend 69.2 dollars on media advertising per capita while in 2005 this rose to 152.3 dollars per capita.
Norway that topped the rankings spent 693.1 dollars per capita for this purpose in 2005. Croatia's neighbour Slovenia was 22nd-ranked with 220 dollars per capita in media ad spending.
On the bottom of the rankings were China, Vietnam, India and Moldova, according to ZenithOptimedia's survey.