U.S. Ad Spend Fell 4 Percent in ’08

NEW YORK: Ad expenditures in the U.S. fell 4.1 percent to $141.7 billion last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with a 9.2-percent drop in the fourth quarter alone.

“The ad market at 2008 year end was buffeted by a souring economy, deteriorating consumer confidence and weakening corporate balance sheets,” said Jon Swallen, the senior VP of research at TNS Media Intelligence. “Preliminary figures from the first quarter of 2009 indicate little change in the health of the overall ad economy as total spending continues to contract sharply.”

Among the sectors that showed growth in the year was Internet display advertising, up by 4.6 percent. Syndication TV also gained, by 6.5 percent, as did cable TV, with a 2.1 percent increase, and Spanish-language television, with an increase of just 0.1 percent. Network TV, meanwhile, was down by just 0.8 percent, and spot TV fell by 2.8 percent.

TNS also notes that the top ten advertisers spent a total of $17.3 billion, a 2.1-percent decreased on the prior year. For the top 100 marketers, ad spend was down 3.8 percent to $61.4 billion. Procter & Gamble was again the largest advertiser with $3.2 billion, reflecting a 7-percent fall on its 2007 spend. Verizon was in second place with $2.4 billion, a 4.3-percent increase. The largest increase among the top ten was registered by General Electric, up 17.3 percent to $1.2 billion. The largest decline came from Time Warner, down 20.9 percent to $1.3 billion. News Corp.’s ad spend rose by 4.2 percent to $1.4 billion, while Disney’s fell by 6.1 percent to $1.24 billion.

The average hour of prime-time network programming in Q4 contained 7 minutes, 59 seconds of in-show brand appearances and 13 minutes, 52 seconds of commercial messages. The combined 21 minutes and 51 seconds reflects 36 percent of a prime-time hour. Unscripted fare had 13 minutes, 52 seconds per hour of brand appearances, versus 5 minutes and 56 seconds for scripted programs. Late-night network talk shows had an average of 13 minutes, 54 seconds per hour.