• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 8, 2013

According to data recently released by Kantar Media, total advertising expenditures in the first quarter of 2013 declined 0.1% from a year ago and finished the period at $30.2 billion,

Jon Swallen, Chief Research Officer at Kantar Media North America, says “... a lackluster start for 2013... due in part to strong 2012 growth caused by political and Olympic ad spending... early second quarter results are mixed... marketers still cautious and conservative with ad budgets... bright spots include healthy growth for Hispanic media and Outdoor... ” 

Change in Measured Ad Spend (Q1 2013; % Change Y-O-Y)
Medium	% Change vs. Q1 2012
Television	0.3%
Magazine	0.6
Newspaper	-4.0
Radio	-1.7
Outdoor	4.3
FSIs	3.8
Source: Kantar Media, June 2013

Television media turned in mixed performances:

• Cable TV expenditures rose 5.2%, aided by an increase in the volume of ad time and by stronger demand from restaurants and auto manufacturers
• Spanish Language TV spending increased 13.5%, its seventh consecutive quarter of double digit growth – a strong result although lower than 15% annual growth rate seen in 2012. The Spanish Language segment continues to be driven by gains among national broadcast networks

Weaker prime time ratings contributed to a 5.2% decline in Network TV spending. Comparisons were also hurt by a calendar timing shift that moved ad money for NCAA Final Four games out of Q1 and into April. Apart from this anomaly, sports programming produced ad revenue gains for broadcast networks.

Spot TV expenditures were down 2.4%, but if cyclical political advertising is excluded, the medium was roughly flat versus last year. Spending in Syndication TV declined 1.1%.

Among print media, Consumer Magazines benefitted from higher spending by leading CPG advertisers and saw total expenditures increase 1.8% in the first quarter.

Sunday Magazines were down 3.7% mainly due to cutbacks from prescription drug marketers. Spending on free-standing inserts (distribution costs only) was up by 3.8%.

Local Newspaper ad spending fell 3.3% and National Newspapers decreased 9.2%, each hurt by substantial reductions from the financial services and motion picture categories. The losses in Newspaper spending were consistent with reductions in the amount of space sold.

Outdoor advertising investments rose 4.3%, the eleventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases. Higher spending from Local Services, Retail and Restaurants were a prime catalyst.

The report shows Radio spending as down 1.7% from Q1 2012. Network radio (not covered in the RAB estimate) experienced the fastest decline, of 15.2%, while local radio was down 1%. National spot radio had a brighter quarter, with spending rising 5.7%

For more data from Kantar, please visit here.