US advertising spend rose by 1.5% year on year in the first quarter, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the advertising information service of Nielsen Media Research.
Hispanic television showed the greatest gain, at 15%, while national magazines grew 14%, and local newspapers rose almost 9%.
| US Advertising Growth, Q1 2003 |
| |
|
| |
Year On Year Growth (%) |
| Hispanic TV |
15.1 |
| National magazines |
14.4 |
| Local newspapers |
8.9 |
| Spot radio |
3.9 |
| Spot TV |
1.4 |
| Network radio |
0.3 |
| Syndication TV |
-4.8 |
| National newspapers |
-5.0 |
| Cable TV |
-5.1 |
| Network TV |
-5.2 |
| TOTAL |
1.5 |
| Source: Nielsen Media Research, May 2003 |
The decrease in television spending can be partly attributed to a strong first quarter in 2002, according to Nielsen. “Television greatly benefited in 2002 because of the advertising expenditures associated with the Olympics,” said Jeff King, managing director of Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
“Conversely, 2003 is disadvantaged because the Iraqi war resulted in some preemption of regularly scheduled shows and possibly contributed to a slowing of the overall advertising growth rate Expectations for total-year advertising revenue, based on optimistic predictions coming out of the TV upfront, certainly outpace the modest growth of the first quarter,” added King.
