TNS: Ad Spending Sinks 14% in 1H09; P&G Cedes Spot as Top Advertiser to Verizon

Ad spend fell 14.3% in the first haf of the year, to $60.87 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The TNS number was similar to that reported two weeks ago by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, which said that total ad spending was down 15.4% for the year, to $56.9 billion.

Second quarter spending was similar to spending in the first quarter, which could indicate that the steep decline of spending levels could have leveled off. 14% declines represent billions of dollars in lost revenue, said John Swallen, svp of research for TNS, who cautions that too much optimism could be premature. Early data from third quarter hint at possible improvements for some media due to easy comparisons against distressed levels of year ago expenditures, Swallen said in a statement.

Spending by Medium
Two segments - internet display advertising and free-standing inserts - rose in the first half, by 6.5% and 4.6% respectively. Packaged goods spending helped push those numbers up. Nielsen, however, had display ads slipping 1%.

TNS says print media saw significant declines, with magazine spending falling 21% and newspaper spending down 24.2%.

Radio spending was down the most, dropping 24.6%; local radio was down 25.5%, while national spot was down 29%. Network radio fell just 8.7%. Outdoor fell 15.7%.

Spot TV was down 27%, while network TV (down 5.5%), cable (down 3.6%) and national syndication (down 0.7%) fared better. Total TV spending was off 10%.

Spending by Advertiser
The top 10 advertisers spend 3.5% less in the half, with Procter & Gamble, formerly the largest advertiser, cutting spending by 20%. Verizon increased spending 3.1%, to nearly $1.2 million, landing the spot as the top advertiser. The largest budget cut came from General Motors, which cut spending by nearly 26%, to $773 million.

Warner, Walt Disney and News Corp. all hacked ad spending in the first half. Time Warner cut spending by 11.1% to $574.3 million, Disney spent 11.7% less, to $517.6 million, and News Corp. cut ad spending by 6.9% to $672.3 million, reports the Los Angeles Times.

TNS said that General Electric Co., which owns NBCU, was the only media firm to increase ad spending in the first half of the year. Its budget jumped 5.1% to $548.3 million.