U.S. Ad Spend Drops for 2008

NEW YORK: Advertising in the U.S. for the full year 2008 was down 2.6 percent, with expenditures down almost $3.7 billion to a total spend of $136.8 billion, according to preliminary figures from The Nielsen Company.

The only two media to show growth in 2008 were Hispanic cable TV, up 9.6 percent, and cable, which increased 7.8 percent. Cable was the highest revenue-generating medium with $26.6 billion in sales.

Print media continued to fall, with ad spends from location and national newspapers down 10.2 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively. National magazines fell 7.6 percent, while local magazines dropped 3.7 percent. New media also took a hit, with Internet ad spends down 6.4 percent.

Network TV dropped 3.5 percent, yet television remained the dominant media for advertisers, with a 60 percent of all ad dollars going to network, cable, hispanic or spot TV.

"Given the state of the U.S. economy, a decline in ad spending was expected, but it’s not as bad as it could have been," said Annie Touliatos, the VP of sales development for Monitor-Plus, Nielsen’s ad tracking service. "The campaign season and the Summer Olympics were two big events that had a tremendous impact on advertising, especially on TV buys."