US advertising for 2008 was down 2.6% compared to 2007, with preliminary figures from Nielsen putting total US ad spend at $136.8 billion last year.
Hispanic cable TV and cable TV were the only two media to show ad growth in 2008, of 9.6% and 7.8% respectively.
Cable was the highest revenue -generating medium with $26.6 billion in sales.
| Media Category |
Jan-Dec ’08 v Jan-Dec ’07 % Change |
| Hispanic Cable TV |
9.60% |
| Cable TV |
7.80% |
| Spot TV Top 100 |
-0.30% |
| Syndication TV |
-0.80% |
| National Sunday Supplement |
-1.90% |
| Hispanic Broadcast TV |
-2.40% |
| Network Radio |
-3.30% |
| Broadcast Network TV |
-3.50% |
| Local Magazine |
-3.70% |
| Spot Radio |
-4.00% |
| Spot TV 101-210 |
-4.60% |
| Outdoor |
-5.00% |
| FSI Coupon |
-5.20% |
| Internet* |
-6.40% |
| National Magazine |
-7.60% |
| National Newspaper |
-9.60% |
| Business to Business |
-9.70% |
| Local Newspaper |
-10.20% |
| Local Sunday Supplements |
-11.00% |
| TOTAL |
-2.60% |
| Source: The Nielsen Company *Internet advertising expenditures account for CPM-based, image-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. |
Annie Touliatos, VP of sales development for Monitor-Plus, Nielsen’s ad tracking service, said: “Given the state of the US economy, a decline in ad spending was expected, but it’s not as bad as it could have been.
“The campaign season and the Summer Olympics were two big events that had a tremendous impact on advertising, especially on TV buys.”
Print media continued its anticipated decline in 2008, said Nielsen. Local and national newspaper ad spends declined 10.2% and 9.6% respectively. National magazines fell 7.6%, while local magazines dropped 3.7%.
At the start of 2009, eMarketer forecast that US newspaper ad revenues would fall to $28.4 billion by 2012, down from an estimated $37.9 billion in 2008 (see US newspaper ad revenues on downward slide).
New media was also hit by the tough economic climate, according to Nielsen. Internet ad spend dropped 6.4% and Network TV took a 3.5% hit. However, television continued to be the dominant medium for advertisers, with 60% of all ad dollars spent on network, cable, Hispanic, or spot TV.
IDC, meanwhile, has forecast that US online ad spending in the first-quarter of 2009 will see a year on year fall for the first time since 2001 (see US online ad spending forecast to fall in Q1 2009).
IDC said that US online ad spending was basically flat in the fourth quarter of 2008. During that time, search ads increased 10% while display and classified ads – when compared with Q407 – fell 7% and 18%, respectively.
