• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, November 7, 2007

Ad spending on Spanish-language media continues to grow, but at a snail's pace in some sectors--notably network television, despite the perceived health of Univision. Nielsen said Tuesday that network TV spending grew by only .2% over the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2006.

One factor, however, may be that Univision had the World Cup last year--a major draw for viewers and advertisers. Network TV came in at $1.53 billion for the January-June period this year.

In keeping with general-market trends, other slow-growth areas include spot TV, which was up .6% to $763.4 million (some of the ebbing could be attributed to 2007 being a non-political year, although the bulk of spending there would have come in the second half of last year) and spot radio, up 1.2% to $349.8 million. Local newspapers declined .4% to $52.3 million.

Overall, ad dollars spent in Spanish-language media in the first-half of 2007 were up 2.3% to $2.87 billion compared to a year ago. In the sector, Univision is not only the dominant programmer, but the largest advertiser across all platforms with Nielsen reporting that its parent Broadcast Media Partners spent $105.8 million for the first six months of 2007. It's possible, however, some of that business could have been conducted on a barter basis.

Procter & Gamble, the country's largest advertiser, followed Univision's parent as the largest spender at $82.7 million over the time period--although that marked a 1% decline compared to last year. AT&T, General Motors and McDonald's all decreased their spending, while Toyota and Johnson & Johnson posted increases.

Automotive was the largest category at $316.1 million, followed by wireless at $140.2 million and quick-service restaurants at $137.6 million, Nielsen said.