According to a Blackfriars Communications survey of U.S. senior executives, American companies expected to spend 50% more on marketing in the fourth quarter than they spent in an average quarter in
2005. This finding pushed the fourth-quarter Blackfriars Marketing Index up to 150. However, Blackfriars' 3Q 2006 index of actual spending fell to 74, the lowest value in two and a half years.
Blackfriars also released its Marketing Category Indices for 12 types of marketing spending--which showed that the bulk of third-quarter spending went to offline advertising, which grew to 41% of
marketing budgets. The percentage of marketing budgets being spent on online advertising fell to 8%.
