"While the protracted downturn in automotive spending has been a prime contributor, the overall results reflect weakness across a wide range of industries and advertisers," Fredericks stated. "Given the uncertainties about near-term economic growth and consumer spending, we expect core ad spending will continue to face challenges during the second half of the year."

Not all media are suffering as a result of the downturn. Internet display advertising maintained its growth leadership position, registering a 17.7% increase to $5.52 billion. TNS MI does not currently track online search advertising, which is believed to be fueling even greater growth in the online sector.

Consumer magazines posted a 6.9% gain to $11.50 billion in advertising. Outdoor expenditures were up 3.6% to $1.90 billion and Cable TV followed with a 2.8% increase to $8.38 billion.

Broadcast TV media continued to experience weakness in the second quarter and turned in significant half-year declines. Network TV expenditures fell 3.6% to $11.84 billion, while ad spending on Spot TV dropped 5.4% to $7.29 billion. Syndication TV was down 5.3% to $2.00 billion.

Newspaper and radio media also saw widening losses during the second quarter. For the half-year period, ad spending in Local Newspapers plunged 5.7% to $11.09 billion on a reduction of 4.7% in space sold. Marketers lowered their radio advertising budgets by 2.7%, to a total of $5.14 billion.

Advertising Spending By Media: First Half 2007 vs. First Half 2006
1st Half '07 1st Half '06 %
MEDIA (Millions) (Millions) CHANGE
TELEVISION MEDIA $31,627.7 $32,396.0 -2.4%
NETWORK TV $11,835.9 $12,277.5 -3.6%
CABLE TV $8,379.0 $8,148.7 2.8%
SPOT TV $7,287.6 $7,706.6 -5.4%
SPANISH LANGUAGE TV $2,127.5 $2,154.0 -1.2%
SYNDICATION - NATIONAL $1,997.7 $2,109.1 -5.3%
CONSUMER MAGAZINES $11,501.9 $10,756.2 6.9%
B-TO-B MAGAZINES $1,858.9 $2,003.7 -7.2%
SUNDAY MAGAZINES $860.0 $824.3 4.3%
LOCAL MAGAZINES $228.5 $238.6 -4.2%
SPANISH LANGUAGE MAGAZINES $102.4 $90.6 13.1%
NEWSPAPERS (LOCAL) $11,091.1 $11,763.7 -5.7%
NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS $1,653.5 $1,766.5 -6.4%
SPANISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPERS $172.0 $179.9 -4.4%
INTERNET* $5,519.0 $4,690.4 17.7%
LOCAL RADIO $3,516.2 $3,570.4 -1.5%
NATIONAL SPOT RADIO $1,161.0 $1,226.0 -5.3%
NETWORK RADIO $462.6 $484.1 -4.4%
OUTDOOR $1,903.9 $1,838.4 3.6%
FSIs $934.7 $954.3 -2.1%
TOTAL $72,593.4 $72,783.0 -0.3%
Source: TNS Media Intelligence. *Excludes search.

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