U.S. Advertising Market Flat for First Nine Months of 2007
Consumer magazines growing; trade pubs and newspapers lagging.
adapted from TNS Media Intelligence data

Total measured advertising expenditures in the first nine months of 2007 inched upwards by 0.2 percent to $108.2 billion as compared to the prior year period, according to data released this month by TNS Media Intelligence. Total measured spending during the third quarter of 2007 was up 1.3 percent versus 2006, reversing declines from the first half of the year.

“The anemic growth rates in measured ad spending reflect a market that is under stress from cyclical business conditions and fundamental structural changes,” said Jon Swallen, SVP Research of TNS Media Intelligence. “Deepening concerns about lower corporate profits, a softening economy and reduced consumer spending have prompted marketers to be cautious with their advertising budgets. The ongoing shift of money towards untracked digital alternatives also contributes to the present slowdown in measured spending.”

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Measured Ad Spending by Media

Internet display advertising continued to lead the market, increasing 17.2 percent to $8.4 billion in expenditures. Consumer magazines posted a 6.4 percent gain to $17.3 billion on flat ad page volume. Cable TV spending was up 4.7 percent to $12.7 billion and Outdoor advanced by 4.4 percent to $3.0 billion.

Broadcast TV media continued to experience weakness in the third quarter and turned in nine month spending declines even as the volume of ad time sold increased slightly. Spot TV expenditures, facing progressively more difficult comparisons against record-setting levels of 2006 political advertising, tumbled 6.8 percent to $11.2 billion. Network TV was down 3.0 percent to $16.2 billion despite an increase in ad time. Syndication TV fell 4.6 percent to $3.0 billion.

Advertising expenditures in Newspaper and Radio media remained soft during the third quarter. For the year-to-date period, marketers lowered their Local Newspaper spending by 5.1 percent to $16.6 billion with a commensurate reduction in ad space. Radio expenditures slipped 1.8 percent, to a total of $8.0 billion.

Measured Advertising Spending by Media:
Jan-Sep 2007 vs. Jan-Sep 20061

MEDIA
Jan-Sep 2007
(Millions)
Jan-Sep 2006
(Millions)
% CHANGE
CONSUMER MAGAZINES
$17,293.3
$16,251.9
+6.4%
B-TO-B MAGAZINES
$2,687.4
$2,842.4
-5.5%
OTHER MAGAZINES
$1,827.20
$1,731.80
+6.4%
MAGAZINE MEDIA TOTAL4
$21,807.9
$20,826.1
+4.7%
 
INTERNET5
$8,380.0
$7,149.3
+17.2%
 
NETWORK TV2
$16,163.9
$16,658.9
-3.0%
CABLE TV
$12,730.5
$12,155.0
+4.7%
OTHER TV
$17,506.5
$18,472.3
-5.5%
TELEVISION MEDIA TOTAL
$46,400.9
$47,286.2
-1.9%
 
NEWSPAPER MEDIA TOTAL
$19,239.0
$20,294.7
-5.2%
RADIO MEDIA TOTAL
$7,972.8
$8,115.3
-1.8%
OTHER MEDIA TOTAL
$4,324.7
$4,185.0
+3.3%
 
GRAND TOTAL8
$108,125.3
$107,885.6
+0.2%

Source: TNS Media Intelligence
1 Figures are based on the TNS Media Intelligence Stradegy™ multimedia ad expenditure database across all TNS MI measured media, including: Network TV; Spot TV; Cable TV (45 networks); Syndication TV; Hispanic Network TV; Consumer Magazines (210 publications);,Sunday Magazines (5 publications); Local Magazines (30 publications); Hispanic Magazines (30 publications); Business-to-Business Magazines (356 publications); Local Newspapers (145 publications); National Newspapers (3 publications); Hispanic Newspapers (52 publications); Network Radio; Spot Radio; Local Radio; Internet; and Outdoor. Figures do not include public service announcement (PSA) data.

2 Network TV figures include the CW and MyTV networks, both of which launched in Sept 2006.

3 Spot TV figures do not include Hispanic Spot TV data.

4 Magazine media includes Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data

5 Internet figures do not include paid search or broadband video advertising.

6 Local Radio includes expenditures for 34 markets in the U.S. as provided by Miller Kaplan Aras.

7 FSI data represents distribution costs only.

8 The sum of the individual media may differ from the sub-totals or grand total due to rounding.