• by Wayne Friedman , July 7, 2009

Spanish-language TV advertising posted a slim 3% gain in 2008 versus 2007, per a new Nielsen study, which was about average across how other media performed a year ago.

Looking at the top 10 categories, however, TV advertising among Spanish-language TV programmers performed much better: an 8% gain to $2.906.1 billion.

Of the bigger categories, pharmaceuticals posted a 32% gain to $663.4 million, which took the lead as the biggest TV ad group over a fast-declining automotive segment. Direct-response advertising also turned upward, 21% to $218 million. Satellite communication services rose 124% to $135.7 million.

But Spanish-language TV programmers were not immune from overall TV marketer issues. For example, automotive spending was down 20% to $530.1 million. Automotive dealers were down as well -- 25% -- to $126.9 million.

Nielsen says the dollar shift followed a similar rise in audience size for Univision and Telemundo. Both networks gained 11% in viewers versus 2007, and had a 6% rise among adult 18-49 prime-time viewers.

More helpful is that TV commercials are continuing to be developed specifically for Spanish-language television. The media research company says commercials targeting the Hispanic market on average outperform those that are translated from general market TV spots -- with 16% higher brand recall results and 22% better message recall.

Overall, Spanish-language TV ads achieved a 35% brand recall score versus 27% for English-language ads.