US ad spend down 11.5% in first three quarters of 2009
US ad spend fell by 11.5% year on year to $83.4 billion from January to September 2009, according to The Nielsen Company.
Only three media sectors reported advertising growth in the first three quarters of the year – free-standing newspaper inserts, cable TV and Spanish-language cable TV.
From January to September, free-standing insert coupons were up by 11.2%, cable TV rose 9.1% and Spanish-language cable TV increased 36.7%. However, sixteen other main categories declined, according to the report.
Aside from cable, TV was among the worst hit, reporting double-digit declines. Radio was also down but, on the whole, fared better than TV.
However, some categories had a more detrimental impact on the media sales results, Nielsen said. Automotive advertising was slashed by 30.9% to $5.4 billion, while local auto advertising dropped 26.9% to $2.4 billion.
Wireless phone media was also down, by 5.4% to $2.5 billion, while pharmaceutical slipped by 4.6% to $3.2 billion. Motion picture advertising, meanwhile, dipped by 1.7% to $2.5 billion.
On the other side, some categories continued to improve, including fast-food restaurants and direct response ads.