US advertising expenditure rose by 2.4% year on year in the first quarter of 2005, with adspend increasing in almost all reported media, according to new figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
Spanish-language TV, cable TV and magazines all led the way in terms of adspend, with the network radio and national newspaper sectors essentially flat. Coupon and the top 100 spot TV markets both showed declines, with the latter down by 3.9% year on year.
Adspend for the top ten companies reached $4.8 billion for the first quarter of 2005, up by 8.1% from the same period in 2004. Automotive companies again showed healthy gains over the first three months of the year, accounting for $2.3 billion in spending, nearly half of the top ten’s total.
The top ten categories reached $9.9 billion in adspend for Q1 2005, an 8.9% rise compared to 2004, with the credit card industry continuing to increase adspend, exceeding $404 million dollars.
Nielsen Monitor-Plus’s findings are more conservative than earlier estimates from TNS Media Intelligence, revealing overall adspend in the US to have risen by 4.4% in Q1 2005, to $33.5 billion year on year, showing the smallest increase since the end of 2003 (see US Adspend Up By 4.4% In Q1 2005).
Local magazines were revealed by TNS to have benefited the most during the first three months of 2005, with adspend increasing by 26.2% to $104 million, while consumer magazines grew by 9.5% to $4.7 billion, year on year.
Sunday magazine adspend was up by 14.5% to $398 million, compared to the same period last year. The cable television sector continued the upwards trend, rising by 18.2% year on year in Q1 2005, to reach $3.5 billion.
According to TNS, local newspapers and network television led all categories of adspend during the first quarter of the year, making $5.9 billion and $5.8 billion respectively.
The Nielsen Monitor-Plus data does not include online adspend in the US, however, which could account for the disparity with its and TNS Media’s results for quarter one of this year.
TNS showed online advertising expenditure to be up by 8.2% year on year in the quarter, confirming predictions for a strong performance in the online sector for 2005.
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