• by Wayne Friedman , June 10, 2011

In the strong digital age, television advertising continues to thrive -- now up by nearly a double-digit percentage increase in the first quarter. Radio and magazines also fared well.

Television grew 9% to $18.8 billion in the first quarter of 2011 over the first quarter of 2010, according to the Nielsen Company. Older media -- radio and magazines -- also had decent gains. Radio added on 6% to $1.6 billion; magazines improved 7% to $3.5 billion. Newspapers continued to lose ground, down 10% to $2.8 billion.

The top five advertising categories were the usual suspects: automotive marketers were at $2.75 billion during the period; quick service restaurants at $1.11 billion; pharmaceuticals at $1.05 billion; telecommunications with $938 million and movies screening at $917 million.

Other media highlights: Nielsen says 76% of the time, U.S. Internet consumers say friends' recommendations of products and services are the "most trusted form of advertisement." Another healthy marketing statistic for the Web -- especially in the social media area -- 49% said they trusted consumer opinions posted online.

When it comes to mobile advertising, teens are the most receptive to advertising on the still-developing marketing platform. Fifty-eight percent of teens say they "always" or "sometimes" look at mobile ads.

While traditional commercials are still growing on television, so too are product-placement activity. Looking at 12 broadcast and major cable networks for their prime-time shows, product placement has grown 22% in four years. There were 5,381 major product placements in 2010.

Reality shows and cable TV shows overall accounted for over half the product placements in the first quarter. Nielsen says while consumers better remember the brands of placements during sitcoms, product placements in reality shows are the most effective at positively impacting viewer opinion of the integrated brand.