Telecommunications Dominates US Ad Spending
The top 200 brands in US measured media reached $24.73 million in the first half of 2006 following a 27.7% increase in media outlays on telecommunications brands, according to Advertising Age’s semiannual report.
It adds that without the contribution from the top 200 brands, spending behind all other brands advanced only 1.8%.
Verizon held on to the top spot as it has since 2003, with first half spending of $937.7 million, up 13.2% from the same period in 2005.
Ad age says that AT&T, currently at No.4 after spending $511.5 million, could challenge Verizon’s position by the time of the next annual report.
The only non-telecom brand to get into the top five was Ford, at No.3, at $540.3 million, up 8.4%.
Pharmaceutical brands in the top 200 spent $1.54 billion in the first half of 2006, up 41.2% over the same period last year.
Merrill Lynch recently lowered its US ad forecast, estimating 4.7% growth in FY06 and 2.8% in FY07 (4.5% and 2.5% excluding direct mail) versus 5.1% and 3.5% previously (see Merrill Lynch Lowers Global Ad Forecast).
Ad age says that increases in telecoms and pharmaceuticals more than offset the 6.6% spending decline in automotive, the largest category in the report.
Of the 28 automotive brands in the top 200, 10 of them showed a decrease, with overall automotive spending among the top 200 falling to $4.72 billion in the first half of the year.
Network TV, the top medium by ad spending, was almost totally dependent on the top 200, says Ad Age.The group’s $7.59 billion in spending grew 13.9% compared with the same period last year.
It adds that this growth kept all network spending in the growth column for the year even though network spending by all brands outside the top 200 actually fell 5.3%.
The eighth largest medium in the report, Spanish language TV networks, rose 30.4% to $882.5 million, with this summer’s World Cup having a big impact.
However, local newspapers were down 12.3% compared to the first half of 2005, at $2.48 billion. Meanwhile, consumer magazines were up 6.1% at $2.86 billion amongst the top 200, with Ad age saying that newspapers in general are attracting less advertising as marketers shift more spending online and test other new media methods.
Internet spending continued to rise, increasing 25.6% to reach $1.65 billion among the top 200.
A recent report from eMarketer said that US online adspend growth rates will reach 26.8% and 15.1% in 2006 and 2007 respectively (see US Online Adspend To Reach Over $21 Billion).
| TOP 200 BRANDS | ||||||
| Ranked by total measured U.S. advertising spending for the first half of 2006 | ||||||
| RANK | MEASURED U.S. AD SPENDING | |||||
| 2006 | 2005 | BRAND | PARENT COMPANY | TOTAL 2006 | TOTAL 2005 | % CHG |
| 1 | 1 | Verizon | Verizon Communications | 937.7 | 828.6 | 13.2 |
| 2 | 2 | Cingular | AT&T | 628.6 | 698.9 | -10.1 |
| 3 | 3 | Ford | Ford Motor Co. | 540.3 | 498.5 | 8.4 |
| 4 | NA | AT&T | AT&T | 511.5 | 19.8 | NA |
| 5 | 7 | Sprint | Sprint Nextel Corp. | 496 | 379.7 | 30.6 |
| 6 | 5 | Toyota | Toyota Motor Corp. | 485.8 | 434.1 | 11.9 |
| 7 | 4 | Chevrolet | General Motors Corp. | 443 | 436.8 | 1.4 |
| 8 | 8 | McDonald’s | McDonald’s Corp. | 379.5 | 361.6 | 5 |
| 9 | 9 | Dell | Dell | 336.4 | 351.4 | -4.3 |
| 10 | 10 | Home Depot | Home Depot | 306.9 | 317.7 | -3.4 |
The ad-spending data from 17 consumer media is from TNS Media Intelligence, which Advertising Age aggregates into brand spending for the report.