US Adspend Declines Slightly In First Half Of 2008
US advertising spending for the first half of 2008 declined slightly compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the advertising information service of The Nielsen Company.
Within specific categories, the credit card services and direct response product categories showed the strongest ad spending gains (+18.95% and +20.48%, respectively), while the Automotive (-.01%), Pharmaceutical (-4.76%), and Motion Picture (-4.64%) categories recorded the largest advertising declines.
| Media Category | First Half 2007 v First Half 2008 % Change |
| Cable TV | 8.1% |
| Syndication TV | 7.2% |
| National Sunday Supplement | 7.2% |
| Spanish Language TV* | 4.5% |
| FSI Coupon | 2.9% |
| Spot TV 101-210 DMAs | 2.9% |
| Spot TV 100 DMAs | 2.6% |
| Network Radio | 2.1% |
| Outdoor | 1.1% |
| Local Magazine | 0.3% |
| National Magazine | -3.1% |
| African American Television** | -5.1% |
| Internet*** | -6.0% |
| Network TV | -6.0% |
| Local Newspaper | -7.3% |
| B2B Magazines | -8.0% |
| National Newspaper | -8.1% |
| Local Sunday Supplements | -9.7% |
| Spot Radio | -10.1% |
| Total Advertising Spending | -1.4% |
| Source: Nielsen Monitor-Plus (Jan-Jun 2007 and Jan-Jun 2008) | |
| *Spanish Language Television includes broadcast, cable, and station coverage. **African American Television includes broadcast network, cable, and syndication programmes with an African American audience composition of 50% or greater, BET, and TV One. ***Internet advertising expenditures account for CPM-based advertising. These reported estimated expenditures do not account for paid search advertising, text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream (“pre-rolls”) players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns or house advertising activity | |
Syndication TV (+7.2%) and national Sunday supplements (+7.2%) also enjoyed healthy advertising growth in the first half of 2008, compared with the first half of 2007.
Nielsen Online has released separately additional details on first half 2008 US internet spending, estimating approximately 11% growth in overall spending when including paid search and online video advertising.
Spending for the 10 largest US advertising categories reached just over $20 billion in the first half of this year, 0.02% less than the same period last year. Most of the top 10 product categories showed increased spending, with the exception of automotive (-8.01%), pharmaceutical (-4.76%), motion picture (-4.64%), and auto dealerships (-0.62%).
| 2008 Rank | Top 10 Product Categories | First Half 2008 ($ million) | First Half 2007 ($ million) | % Change |
| 1 | Automotive | $5,333.6 | $5,798.1 | -8.01% |
| 2 | Pharmaceutical | $2,598.4 | $2,728.4 | -4.76% |
| 3 | Auto Dealerships | $2,243.0 | $2,257.0 | -0.62% |
| 4 | Restaurant – Quick Service | $2,167.8 | $1,998.0 | 8.50% |
| 5 | Telephone Services – Wireless | $1,827.1 | $1,807.5 | 1.08% |
| 6 | Motion Picture | $1,731.6 | $1,815.8 | -4.64% |
| 7 | Department Store | $1,642.9 | $1,580.1 | 3.97% |
| 8 | Direct Response Product | $1,369.7 | $1,136.9 | 20.48% |
| 9 | Restaurant | $935.0 | $868.2 | 7.70% |
| 10 | Credit Card Services | $859.5 | $722.6 | 18.95% |
| Total: Top 10 Product Categories | $20,708.7 | $20,712.6 | -0.02% | |
| Source: Nielsen Monitor-Plus (Jan-Jun 2007 & Jan-Jun 2008) | ||||
| Note: Data excludes internet and B-to-B ad spending | ||||
In July, Nielsen reported that global advertising spend grew just over 4% in the first quarter of 2008 (see Global Adspend Grew Just Over 4% In Q1).
Earlier that month, Magna global ad forecast predicted that worldwide advertising spending will rise 4.4% this year, with the US expected to see growth of 2% (see Global Adspend To Grow 4.4% This Year).