First-half Ad Spending Better Than Expected

By: Katy Bachman (Mediaweek.com) Advertising spending in the first half of the year fell just 0.2%, to $53.7 billion, according to Competitive Media Reporting figures released Monday. The results, which study 12 media, were slightly better than CMR's early forecasts.

"The health of the market is steadily coming back to life," said David Peeler, president and CEO of CMR, a subsidiary of Taylor Nelson Sofres.

Spanish-language TV networks posted the biggest gain, up 26.7%. Other categories posting increases at the half were network TV, 4.2%; spot TV, 4.0%; local newspapers, 6.3%; radio, 7.5%; and the Internet,1.9%.

Media that experienced decreases included national TV syndication, off 12.6%; consumer and Sunday magazines, down 3.7%; national newspapers, down 6.4%; and outdoor, 4.6% lower.

Nielsen's Monitor-Plus, which also tracks advertising expenditures across media, released its half-year numbers earlier this month and reported advertising spending across nine media categories was up 2.3%.