U.S. Advertising Expenditures increased 5.7% in the First Half Of 2010.

Total advertising expenditures in the first six months of 2010 rose 5.7 percent from a year ago and finished the period at $63.57 billion, according to data released today by Kantar Media, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. Ad spending during the second quarter of 2010 was up 5.4 percent compared to last year.

“The rally in ad spending that has emerged from last year’s collapse continued at a steady pace through the second quarter, even as softening economic data on retail sales, spending and employment began to raise concerns about the outlook for consumer activity,” said Jon Swallen, SVP Research at Kantar Media. “Early figures from the third quarter indicate the advertising expansion is still maintaining its momentum and that is an encouraging sign for the industry.”

Television media led the first half rebound. Spot TV expenditures jumped 25.1 percent, fueled by robust demand from auto and retail marketers and a cyclical upturn in political advertising. Spanish Language TV spending rose 14.6 percent, with gains driven by the World Cup event in June. Cable TV (+ 8.8 percent) and Network TV (+7.2 percent) benefitted from selling more ad time and increased spending across a broad range of retail and consumer package goods categories.

Free Standing Inserts (FSIs) posted the second largest growth rate among the major media sectors. Expenditures rose 7.6 percent as CPG marketers aggressively targeted value-conscious consumers with couponing programs.

Within the Radio sector, results were divergent. Spending in National Spot Radio increased 16.8 percent while Local Radio was up 4.2 percent as telecom and financial service marketers shifted budgets into these segments. Network Radio registered a small decline of -0.4 percent. All radio types saw growth rates ease slightly during the second quarter.

Consumer Magazine expenditures bottomed out in March and the ensuing rebound in page counts helped push half-year spending to a 1.5 percent increase. Sunday Magazines (+13.1 percent) continued to reap additional money from prescription drug makers and home improvement retailers.

National Newspaper spending jumped 7.1 percent, primarily from gains at the Wall Street Journal. However, Local Newspaper spending was down 4.6 percent compared to last year and has now suffered declines for 19 consecutive quarters.

Measured Ad Spending by Advertiser

Expenditures for the ten largest advertisers increased 11.5 percent to $8.35 billion in the first six months of 2010. Among the Top 100 advertisers, a diversified group representing nearly one-half of the measured ad economy, spending was up 9.7 percent to $29.32 billion. The long-tail of small advertisers – defined as those outside the Top 1000 and a segment which accounts for more than one-fifth of all ad expenditures – lagged behind with just a 1.4 percent gain in their aggregate media investments. The skewed distribution illustrates the dependency of the current advertising recovery on large advertisers.

Procter & Gamble easily held onto its position as the largest advertiser and spent $1,501.2 million, a 31.1 percent increase versus a year ago. The company boosted marketing support for nearly all of its largest brands.

AT&T took the second spot in the rankings with expenditures rising 14.1 percent to $1,108.2 million. Much of the increase was due to a large TV ad buy in February’s Winter Olympics, while the second quarter was characterized by significant advertising reductions for core wireless products. Rival Verizon Communications slashed its half-year budgets by 12.3 percent, to $1,020.2 million.

The Top 10 included three auto manufacturers, the most from that sector in more than three years. General Motors had the largest growth rate as the company lifted spending 45.6 percent, to $1,043.0 million. Toyota Motor, seeking to rehabilitate its image after recalling millions of vehicles for safety hazards, raised its ad budgets by 23.3 percent, to $527.7 million. Ford Motor, which has recently been gaining market share, accelerated its expenditures by a comparatively modest 12.2 percent, to $524.1 million.

Measured Ad Spending by Category

Expenditures for the ten largest advertising categories rose 7.3 percent in the first six months of 2010 and totaled $36.04 billion.

Automotive was the premier category among the Top Ten on both dollar volume and growth rate as spending surged 23.4 percent to $6,062.7 million amidst an improved environment for vehicle sales. Within the category, manufacturers and dealers had comparable rates of increase.

Telecom was the second largest category with half-year expenditures up 2.8 percent to $4,383.6 million. However, spending rates fell during the second quarter as leading wireless and satellite TV marketers pulled back.

Financial Services advertising jumped 11.3 percent, to $3,818.0 million. Results were helped by vigorous competition among credit card issuers and a marketing revival for consumer loan products. These offset lingering sluggishness in the retail banking segment.

Packaged goods categories continued to see higher advertising support as marketers adapted their strategies to evolving changes in consumer shopping behavior. Expenditures for Food & Candy were up 9.5 percent to $3,299.4 million, and spending for Personal Care Products increased 11.8 percent to $2,962.3 million.

Branded Entertainment

Kantar Media continuously monitors Branded Entertainment within network prime time and late night programming. The tracking identifies Brand Appearances and measures their duration and attributes. Given the short length of many Brand Appearances, duration is a more relevant metric than a count of occurrences for quantifying and comparing the gross amount of brand activity that viewers are potentially exposed to in the program versus the commercial breaks.

In the second quarter of 2010, an average hour of monitored prime time network programming contained nine minutes, thirty one seconds (9:31) of in-show Brand Appearances and 14:19 of network commercial messages. The combined total of 23:50 of marketing content represents 40 percent of a prime-time hour.

Unscripted reality programming had an average of 16:39 per hour of Brand Appearances as compared to just 5:16 per hour for scripted programs such as sitcoms and dramas. Late night network talk shows had an average of 13:55 per hour. The combined load of Brand Appearances and network ad messages in these late night shows was 29:38 per hour, or 49 percent of total content time.

The top five brands ranked by total amount of Brand Appearance time were Coca-Cola, 24 Hour Fitness Center, Yamaha Music Equipment, Chef Revival, and Starter.

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