Ad Spending By Media
Internet display advertising maintained its growth leadership position, registering a 17.7 percent increase to $5.52 billion in expenditures. Consumer magazines posted a 6.9 percent gain to $11.50 billion in advertising. Outdoor expenditures were up 3.6% to $1.90 billion and Cable TV followed with a 2.8 percent increase to $8.38 billion.
Broadcast TV media continued to experience weakness in the second quarter and turned in significant half-year declines. Network TV expenditures fell 3.6 percent to $11.84 billion, while ad spending on Spot TV dropped 5.4 percent to $7.29 billion. Syndication TV was down 5.3 percent to $2.00 billion.
Newspaper and Radio media also saw widening losses during the second quarter. For the half-year period, ad spending in Local Newspapers plunged 5.7 percent to $11.09 billion on a reduction of 4.7 percent in space sold. Marketers lowered their Radio advertising budgets by 2.7 percent, to a total of $5.14 billion.
Ad Spending by Advertiser
During the first half of 2007, the top 10 advertisers spent a combined total of $9.0 billion, a reduction of 2.2 percent from last year. Second quarter spending for this select group was up slightly, rebounding from a steep 5.1 percent decline during the first three months.
Extending outwards to the top 50 marketers, a more diversified group representing one-third of the measured ad economy, expenditures were down by 1.6 percent for the half year, to $23.3 billion. Outside the top 50, the segment which had been a key industry growth driver leading into 2007, spending rose just 0.4 percent versus last year.
Procter & Gamble maintained its spot atop the rankings with $1,611.8 million in spending, up 1.8 percent from last year on the strength of an 11.7 percent increase during the second quarter. National Amusements posted the largest percent gain among the top 10, up 56.5 percent to $589.8 million, behind higher spending from its movie studio division.
Telecommunication companies claimed three of the top ten spots. AT&T expenditures were off 12.5 percent to $1,100.2 million, reflecting difficult comparisons against a very large re-branding campaign from last year. Increased spending behind core wireless businesses contributed to higher outlays at Verizon Communications (up 8.8 percent, to $1,041.1 million) and Sprint Nextel (up 13.5 percent, to $689.2 million).
Ad Spending by Category
The Top 10 advertising categories in the first half of 2007 spent an aggregate $36.47 billion, down 0.5 percent from a year ago. Financial Services maintained its top position with $4.49 billion in expenditures, up 3.5 percent. Higher spending from retail banks offset reductions by credit card brands.
Direct Response had the largest percentage gain, up 11.3 percent to $3.54 billion. The category showed deep strength with higher ad spending levels across a broad range of brands. Personal Care Products advanced 6.7 percent, led by resurgent spending from several top advertisers. Local Services & Amusements (+2.1 percent) and Restaurants (+0.8 percent) achieved small gains.
Advertising spending in the telecommunications category contracted by 6.3 percent to $4.46 billion. This was mainly due to lower expenditures from AT&T, Vonage Holdings and the AOL division of Time Warner. The persistent malaise in the automotive category pushed Non-Domestic Auto down 6.1 percent to $3.92 billion and Domestic Auto down 10.8 percent to $3.39 billion. Automotive advertising has now declined for eight consecutive quarters.
Travel & Tourism advertising improved during the second quarter but still finished the half-year down 1.2 percent, to $2.85 billion.
