U.S. advertising spending drops –0.1%for first three quarters 2007.

The Nielsen Company reported that advertising spending for the first three quarters of 2007 decreased –0.1% over the same period last year, with Internet continuing to demonstrate the strongest performance (plus 15.9%) of any category.

According to preliminary figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the leading provider of competitive advertising information, in addition to Internet advertising, other categories that showed an increase during the first three quarters of this year were: National Magazines (7.7%), National Sunday Supplements (6.0%), Outdoor (5.7%) and National Cable TV (1.2%).

Advertiser Spending

Advertising spending across monitored media for the top 10 companies in the first half of 2007 reached $30.5 billion, down an average of 6.3% from the same time period in 2006. Eight out of the ten advertisers decreased budgets. General Motors continues to show the largest decline.

Category Spending

Spending for the 10 largest categories reached $20.8 billion in the first three quarters, 2.3% less than the same period last year. Most product categories have decreased their ad spending, with the exception of Pharmaceuticals, Wireless Telephone Services, and Direct Response Products. The top category in terms of increased ad spend was Wireless Telephone Services at 7.3%– Verizon Wireless was the top brand in terms of total ad spending for this time period in the wireless product category at $449.2 million, and AT&T Wireless second at $402.5 million in ad spend.

Product Placement –

Broadcast Network Product Placement

Nielsen Product Placement Service reports an increased number of product placement occurrences in prime-time broadcast network programming for the first three quarters of 2007, based on its Top 10 Programs Broadcast Network ranking (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW & MyNetworkTV tracked). The Top 10 programs featured 22,046 occurrences compared to 19,125 occurrences for the same time period last year. “American Idol” is once again the #1 show in terms of the number of product placements, a position it held last year. During the first three quarters of 2007, American Idol featured 4,349 product placement occurrences.

The Top 10 featured brands on prime-time broadcast network television for first three quarters of 2007 accounted for 9,198 occurrences. A slight increase compared to the same time period last year when 9,181 brands were reported. Coca-Cola, primarily through its association with “American Idol,” was the top brand once again, with 3,111 occurrences for this time period. Chef Revival apparel placed second with 1,256 product placements—Chef Revival Apparel outfits the cast on Fox’s reality program “Hell’s Kitchen.”

Cable Network Product Placement

Nielsen Product Placement Service reports a decrease in the number of product placement occurrences in prime-time cable network programming for the first three quarters of 2007, based on its Top 10 Programs Cable Network ranking (A&E, HGTV, MTV, TLC, BRAVO tracked). The Top 10 programs featured 136,078 occurrences for the first three quarters of 2007 vs 160,118 occurrences for the first three quarters 2006. “American Chopper,” which premiered in Jan 2007, is the #1 cable network show in terms of the number of product placements, with 41,657 occurrences.

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