Fourth-quarter 2009 ad spending has showed signs of recovery.
According to Kantar Media, fourth-quarter 2009 ad spending was down 6% versus the same period in '08. This result was better than
the year as a whole, which sank 12.3% in 2009 to $125.3 billion as compared to 2008.
Jon Swallen, senior vice president of Research at Kantar Media, states: "The advertising recession began
to ease in the final two months of 2009 and preliminary figures from the first quarter of 2010, when compared against the abyss of a year ago, indicate many sectors are experiencing growth."
Only
two media groups showed gains: Internet and free-standing inserts. The best results came from Internet display advertising, which rose 7.3% during this year -- with higher spending from telecom,
factory auto and travel categories.
Free Standing Inserts (FSIs) were up 3.0%. Kantar says consumer-products marketers that have been targeting price-conscious shoppers with couponing programs
are responsible for the rise.
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National TV media continued to outperform the overall ad market, down 2.4% for the fourth quarter and off 9.5% for the full year.
As with other estimates,
Kantar says the best performance here was with cable television -- losing just 1.4% for the entire year and up 2.7%. While network TV was behind cable television for the year -- down 7.6% -- the group
exceeded cable TV in the fourth quarter, up 4.1%.
In a phone interview, Swallen says network television gains should be looked at from a two-year perspective: "In the fourth quarter 2008 network
TV slipped further than cable."
Local television continued to suffer, plunging 23.7% for the year. Still, TV stations have improved, cutting losses to being down 13.9% in the fourth
quarter.
Print media did worse than the entire industry as a whole, off 17.5% for the year and down 11.5% for the fourth quarter.
Local magazines and business-to-business magazines were
below print overall: down 27.7% and 26.2%, respectively.
Kantar said print was hit by lower media budgets across the broad range of advertisers.
2009 U.S. Media
advertising results
(Percent Change in Measured Ad Spending)
MEDIA SECTOR ·
Media Type (Sectors and types listed in rank order of spending) | Full Year 2009 vs 2008 | 4th Quarter 2009 vs 2008 |
TELEVISION MEDIA | -9.5% | -2.4% |
· Network TV | -7.6% | 4.1% |
· Cable TV2 | -1.4% | 2.7% |
· Spot TV3 | -23.7% | -13.9% |
· Spanish Language TV4 | -8.9% | -4.7% |
· Syndication - National | -4.9% | -10.7% |
MAGAZINE MEDIA5 | -17.4% | -11.5% |
· Consumer Magazines | -16.6% | -11.1% |
· B-to-B Magazines | -26.2% | -22.7% |
· Sunday Magazines | -11.0% | 3.6% |
· Local Magazines | -27.7% | -18.2% |
· Spanish Language Magazines | -21.6% | -12.8% |
NEWSPAPER MEDIA6 | -19.7% | -8.9% |
· Newspapers (Local) | -20.0% | -10.3% |
· National Newspapers | -17.8% | 0.4% |
· Spanish
Language Newspapers | -16.4% | -10.7% |
INTERNET (display ads only) | 7.3% | -2.1% |
RADIO MEDIA | -20.3% | -12.5% |
· Local Radio7 | -20.6% | -11.7% |
· National Spot Radio | -24.6% | -16.9% |
· Network
Radio | -8.7% | -7.9% |
OUTDOOR | -13.2% | -5.4% |
FSIs8 | 3.0% | 0.0% |
TOTAL9 | -12.3% | -6.0% |
Source: Kantar Media
The top 10 advertisers combined for a total of $16.6 billion, virtually
unchanged -- down 0.9% from 2008. But much of this was held up by a handful of big advertisers.
Three of the top 10 advertisers posted double-digit improvements -- Wal-Mart, up a big
35.4%; Pfizer, rising 32.7%; and Sprint Nextel, rising 29.9%.
Procter & Gamble was again the largest advertiser, with $2.7 billion spent in 2009. But this was 15.6% lower than the year before.
Verizon Communications again took second position. It was down 7% to $2.24 billion.
Although finger-pointing for the hard recessionary times in the advertising market went in the direction of
automotives, General Motors actually spent more -- albeit slightly, 1.3% -- than the year before. It remained as the third-largest advertiser with $2.20 billion.
Swallen says smaller advertisers
-- those below the top one thousand advertisers -- were the key in pulling down overall ad budgets. "They are the first ones to cut, and they are the last to return. That tells me they are more
economically sensitive."
Top 10 Advertisers:
Jan-Dec 2009 vs. Jan-Dec 20081
Company | Jan - Dec 2009 ($Millions) | Jan - Dec 2008 ($Millions) | % Change |
Procter & Gamble Co | $2,714.3 | $3,217.1 | -15.6% |
Verizon Communications Inc | $2,238.2 | $2,403.4 | -6.9% |
General Motors Corp | $2,197.5 | $2,168.3 | 1.3% |
AT&T Inc | $1,904.4 | $1,986.0 | -4.1% |
Pfizer Inc | $1,397.4 | $1,052.8 | 32.7% |
News Corp | $1,252.2 | $1,401.3 | -10.6% |
Johnson &
Johnson | $1,250.4 | $1,368.6 | -8.6% |
Sprint Nextel Corp | $1,227.1 | $944.8 | 29.9% |
Time Warner Inc | $1,204.8 | $1,292.9 | -6.8% |
Wal-Mart Stores Inc | $1,169.6 | $864.1 | 35.4% |
TOTAL2 | $16,556.1 | $16,699.2 | -0.9% |
Source: Kantar Media