• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 24, 2013

The five major cigarette marketers nearly cut in half their collective magazine spending in 2011. The amount declined to $23.3 million from $46.5 million the year before, according to the FTC.

Point-of-sale ads were down 39% to $76.6 million, though the much smaller outdoor category saw an 82% bump to $3.1 million.

The amount of cigarettes sold in 2011 declined 3% to 273.6 billion. The 2011 data released this month is the latest provided by the FTC.

The bulk of spending in cigarette promotions involves B2B payments to retailers and wholesalers to reduce prices for consumers. So-called “price discounts” payments increased nearly $500 million to $7 billion in 2011.

Total cigarette marketing spending by the major marketers was $8.37 billion in 2011 -- a 4% increase over the year before, according to the FTC.

In the much-smaller smokeless tobacco category, magazine spending also plummeted to nearly $4.9 million in 2010, down from about $11 million. Outdoor advertising rose to $545,000 from $386,000.

Overall, with the significant B2B spending, smokeless tobacco promotion climbed 2% to $451.7 million in 2011. Smokeless tobacco sales rose to $2.94 billion among the major marketers from $2.78 billion.

The FTC has periodically issued a report on cigarettes since 1967 and smokeless tobacco since 1987. Cigarette ads were banned on TV and radio in 1970 under legislation signed by President Nixon.

The FTC issues the reports as part of its role to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair trade practices.