• by March 21, 2001

CMR, the provider of strategic advertising and marketing communication information, announced today that U.S. advertising expenditures for 2000 reached $101.6 billion - a 13.3% increase over the $89.7 billion spent in 1999. But, while advertisers exhibited strong growth through the first nine months of the year, fourth quarter spending slowed to 6.1% over the same time period of the previous year.

Advertisers' fears of slowed economic growth were most strongly illustrated in December of 2000 when overall spending increased by just 1.0% over December of 1999 - $8.779 million to $8.688 million. Cable television suffered the brunt of advertisers cuts in the fourth quarter; down -3.9% for the quarter and a staggering -12.2% in December alone.

"The year 2000 was most certainly a banner one for advertisers, agencies and the media," said David Peeler, President and CEO of CMR. "The convergence of a robust economy, extraordinary dot.com spending, heated political ad campaigns, and the Olympics brought about the industry's greatest increase in six years. Of course, apprehensions of a possible recession were manifested in November and December, and we are certain to see that reserved spending trend continue in early 2001."

CMR says that while automotive manufacturers continued to lead all the major categories in ad spending, the financial services companies, fueled in large part by their interactive extensions, far outpaced overall growth.

With strong interest in the DTC drug industry, pharmaceutical companies continued to take their message to the mass audience. Spending in this segment saw a 41.8% increase from $1.606 billion in 1999 to $2.277 billion in 2000.

Among all parent companies, General Motors, despite an overall decrease of 2.5%, headed the list yet again and was followed by DaimlerChrysler, Procter & Gamble and Philip Morris.

Among brands, McDonalds not only maintained it ranking as the top-spending brand by increased by margin between itself and Burger King. The Golden Arches outspend Burger King by 55.9% in 1999 and by a staggering 72.3% in 2000.

Born out of the merger of Bell Atlantic and Nynex, Verizon Wireless Services jumped from a non-existent brand in 1999 to one of the year's top spenders. Of course, Bell Atlantic Mobile did spend $36.5 million in 1999 so the Verizon brand had a base from which to start.