US ad spending down 9% in 2009
US ad spending declined 9% in 2009, according to new figures from The Nielsen Company.
Spending was down an estimated $11.6 billion to a total of $117 billion last year, said Nielsen, continuing a trend of at least six straight quarters of negative growth in the ad industry.
It is a trend that shows evidence of slowing down, however. In the previous two quarters, Nielsen reported declines of 15.4% and 11.5%.
Terrie Brennan, senior VP for new business development at The Nielsen Company, said: “Fourth quarter ad spending was down just two percent year-over-year, and that helped soften the full-year decline.
“In fact, most of the top advertisers showed increased spending late in the year. These are encouraging signs for an ad market that’s still trying to stop the bleeding.”
National Newspapers were down 13.7% last year, an improvement on the -21.6% that Nielsen reported through the first three quarters of 2009. Local Newspapers finished relatively strong in 2009, cutting its reported 14% decline in ad revenue through the third quarter to -10.4% by the end of the year.
| Media Category* | Jan-Dec 2009 v Jan-Dec 2008 % change |
|---|---|
| Spanish Language Cable TV | 32.20% |
| Cable TV | 14.80% |
| FSI Coupon | 11.50% |
| Internet** | 0.10% |
| Spanish Language Network TV | -3.90% |
| National Sunday Supplement | -7.20% |
| Spot Radio | -8.70% |
| Network Radio | -9.70% |
| Network TV | -9.90% |
| Local Newspaper | -10.40% |
| Outdoor | -11.20% |
| National Newspaper | -13.70% |
| Spot TV 101-210 | -14.20% |
| Syndicated TV | -14.70% |
| Spot TV Top 100 | -16.10% |
| National Magazine | -19.30% |
| Local Magazine | -23.90% |
| B2B | -32.70% |
| Local Sunday Supplement | -44.90% |
Recent UK figures from the Advertising Association, researched and compiled by Warc, revealed that after nine consecutive quarters of year on year decline, total adspend is predicted to return to growth in Q3 2010.
The report shows that total UK adspend for full year 2009 is now expected to be down 12.7% year on year at current prices, or down 14.6% at constant prices, representing the worst recession for the advertising industry since the AA/Warc quarterly survey began in 1982.