Break out the party hats and horns! Cable TV ad spending was up 1.5% through the first six months of 2009. Nielsen numbers through the first quarter showed cable ad spending was down 2.7%, which means second quarter showed a marked improvement.
While a 1.5% increase may not seem like cause for celebration, given ad revenues across the board over the last couple of years, any increase is a good sign. Unfortunately, Cable was the only medium with growth. The other measured media showed continuing declines ranging from -1% for Internet to -45.7% for Sunday supplements.
Automotive continues to be the number one product category, despite a 31% decrease in spending. Quick service restaurants were second, with a 5% ad spend increase year-to-year. Rounding out the top ten product categories by ad spend:
- Pharmaceutical (-11.3%)
- Wireless telephone services (+1.3%)
- Motion picture (+1.7%)
- Auto dealerships – local (-26.2%)
- Department stores (-4.4%)
- Direct response products (+6.7%)
- Restaurants (-3.6%)
- Furniture stores (-3.6%)
Beyond the top ten, the greatest product category growth by far was in ‘multi-function mobile phones,’ otherwise known as smartphones, PDAs and iPhones. That category was up 104% over the same time last year, driven largely by promotion of the new iPhone and TMobile’s Sidekick.
Source: MarketingCharts.com.
Wednesday, Sep 30, 2009
Michelle OBrien