Ad Spending Signals Recovery

According to the study just released by Kantar Media, U.S. media spending grew 5.1% in Q1 of 2010 compared to the same period last year. Spot TV benefited the most, advancing 22% as advertisers were buying time they had not locked down in last summer’s upfront buying season. Significant increase was also recorded for national radio, part of an overall rebound that halted radio’s three-year decline, Sunday newspaper supplements, newspaper inserts, and network TV, which benefited from the Winter Olympics.

Not all media enjoyed the revenue increase as the spending was down for syndicated TV, magazines, local newspapers and out-of-home.

Among major ad categories, automotive increased its spending the most, with manufacturers increasing by 20% and dealers by 16%. Among the top advertisers, Pfizer had the biggest increase – a whopping 46%.

Overall, the numbers from the study show a conservative, but steady growth as companies gauge consumer confidence levels and focus on fine-tuning their ad messages. In the coming months, we expect the growth to continue or intensify. We also expect an expansion in cross-media ad campaigns and the need to measure their performance more effectively, emergence of new mobile ad models to take advantage of rise in popularity of smartphones, and an increase in commercialization of social networking sites.

What are your expectations for the rest of the year and how can we help you meet them? Reply to this post, call us at 887.515.5557 or email at info@applegatemediagroup.com.