US Advertising Fell 15% in First Half of 2009

The Nielsen Company reported earlier this week that ad spending in the U.S. dropped 15.4 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the first half of 2008, with Cable Television the only media category to see an increase.

During the first six months of 2009, $56.9 billion was spent on advertising. This reflects a decrease of more than $10.3 billion from the same time period last year.

Cable TV saw a modest 1.5 percent increase in spending during the first half of this year, according to Nielsen.

“This increase is especially significant since Nielsen reported Cable TV ad spending was down 2.7 percent through the first quarter this year,” wrote Aaron Lewis in the company’s press release.

Spanish Language Cable TV also saw a slight uptick (0.6 percent), making it and Cable TV the only two media categories to see increases in the first half of 2009 compared to the first half of 2008.

Internet saw a 1.0 percent decline in ad spending during the first half of 2009, while FSI (free standing insert) Coupon saw a 5.5 percent decline.

Network TV experienced a 7.0 percent drop in ad spending, Network Radio saw a 9.0 percent decline and Spot Radio saw a 9.1 percent decline in ad spending during the first half of the year.

Spanish Language TV (-10.1 percent), Syndication TV (-11.6 percent), Local Newspaper (-13.2 percent), Outdoor (-14.9 percent) and Spot TV Top 100 DMAs (-17.4 percent) also saw decreases in ad spending.

Local Sunday Supplements (-45.7 percent) experienced the most dramatic decline in ad spending in the first half of 2009, followed by Spot TV 101-210 DMAs (-32.1 percent), B-to-B Magazines (-31.8 percent), Local Magazine (-25.4 percent), National Newspaper (-22.8 percent), National Sunday Supplement (-22.4 percent) and National Magazine (-21.2 percent).

Nielsen notes that ad spending on African-American television (“a subset of Network, Cable, Syndicated, and Local”) continues to climb, rising 14.3 percent during the first six months of the year.

Despite seeing ad spending decline 31.4 percent, the Automotive (Factory & Dealer Assoc.) industry remained the top spender during the first half of 2009, laying out more than $3.7 billion.

The Quick Service Restaurant industry was the second-biggest spender, laying out $2.2 billion, reflecting a 5.1 percent boost.

Auto Dealerships – Local spent $1.7 billion during the first half of 2009, a 26.2 percent decline from its ad spending in the first half of 2008.

Direct Response Products saw the largest increase in ad spending of the top 10 product categories, boosting its spending by 6.7 percent to $1.3 billion.

Though it did not make the top 10, Nielsen notes that the Multi-Function Mobile Phones category, which includes smartphones, PDAs, etc., experienced the highest percentage change among all categories that spent a minimum of $200 million during the first half of 2009.

Promotion of Apple’s updated iPhone models and TMobile’s SideKick drove the category’s 104 percent increase in spending.

Cable TV Services also saw a large increase in ad spending (62.3 percent), which Nielsen attributes to “ad buys this year leading up to June’s DTV transition.”

Sources:</strong

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/u-s-ad-spending-tumbles-15-in-first-half-2009/

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=112761