US Ad Spending Grows By 6.4% In First Half Of 2004
US advertising spending rose by 6.4% in the first half of this year, fuelled by a spending increase in political and traditional advertising, according to preliminary figures released from Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
Of all the media sectors covered, local magazines led the way, growing by 12.7% on the previous year, followed by cable television (12.5%), national newspapers (10%), network television (7.5%), national magazines (6.0%), network radio (5.5%), spot television (3.3%), spot radio (3.0%) and local newspapers which were up 2.7%.
Managing director, Jeff King said: “Advertising spending remains strong in 2004. The second half of the year will be fuelled by two major events, the summer Olympics and the presidential campaign. President Bush and Senator Kerry have already placed a substantial amount of advertising on spot television in key battlegrounds. In addition, independent interest groups supporting Kerry contributed a significant amount of advertisng support for the candidate.”
From January to June 2004, advertising spending for the top 10 companies topped $8 billion, up 11.3% year-on-year. Procter & Gamble remained as number one in the advertising league table, as its spending grew by 10.6% from last year to nearly $1.46 billion. The largest single increase in the six month period came from DaimlerChrysler, which saw advertising spend grow by 55.9% to $887 million.