Winter Olympics Boost U.S. Ad Spending in Q1

June 23, 2014 World Screen Top Stories

NEW YORK: Total advertising expenditures in the U.S. reached $34.9 billion in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 5.7 percent on Q1 2013, receiving a nice lift from the Winter Olympics, according to the latest report from Kantar Media.

Spending was up 9.7 percent across all measured types of television. Network TV increased 14.5 percent, with around half of this growth coming from the Winter Olympics. The NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl contributed to these gains as well. The Olympics also helped to lift spot TV expenditures, which increased 7 percent. This segment was also aided by an early rush on political spending for key races as the November elections draw near.

Cable TV saw a 6.2-percent gain, thanks to higher spending from a range of core categories. Spanish-language TV was up 18 percent for the period, led by gains from broadcast networks. Syndication TV spending was up 3.2 percent, bolstered by pharmaceutical, insurance and restaurant marketers.

Internet display expenditures were up by 13 percent.

Spending from the ten largest advertisers in the first quarter of 2014 was $4.4 billion, a 14.1-percent increase and an aggregate gain of $540 million compared to last year. TV media spending accounted for more than 80 percent of this growth, tied to the Winter Olympics. Six of the top ten marketers—Procter & Gamble, General Motors, AT&T, Comcast, Pfizer and Berkshire Hathaway—had significant TV ad buys in the Olympics.

“The Winter Olympics delivered its expected windfall in the first quarter, adding about $600 million of incremental ad spending to the marketplace. But the nature of the event is that this money is narrowly distributed and doesn’t benefit all sectors of the market,” said Jon Swallen, the chief research officer at Kantar Media North America. “Subtracting the Olympics’ contribution, the growth rate for remaining expenditures was just under 4 percent.”