Nielsen: U.S. Advertising Spending Rose 4.5% Through Third Quarter Of 2005.

Advertising spending through the third quarter of 2005 rose 4.5% over the same period last year, due to gains across major media, according to preliminary figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Advertising spending increased in almost all reported media, led by Internet, Spanish-Language TV and Cable TV. Local Magazines continue to show healthy gains. A number of media haven’t shown much movement through the third quarter including Spot TV in the smaller markets, Local Newspapers, and Network Radio. Coupons were flat. “Network TV showed positive growth through the first half of 2005. However, the absence of the Olympics in third quarter resulted in a year-to-date decline,” said Jeff King, managing director of Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The increase in Spot TV in the top 100 markets was a result of growth in the automotive, retail, and insurance/real estate industries (See Chart 1).

Advertiser Spending

Advertising through the third quarter for the top 10 companies reached over $14 billion, up 1.8% from last year. Most advertisers experienced growth. Although DaimlerChrysler cut back 5.6%, overall the automotive companies show healthy gains, accounting for $5.4 billion in spending, with an increase of 2.9% (See Table 1).

Category Spending

Spending for the 10 largest categories reached over $31 billion through the third quarter, 5.1% greater than the same period last year. Most product categories have increased spending, with the exception of Local Automotive Dealerships and Department Stores, which are each slightly down. The Restaurant industry was the fastest growing in terms of percent increase over last year (See Table 2).

Product Placement

Nielsen’s Product Placement tracking service continues to show significant growth in the integration of product occurrences in primetime broadcast network programming. The top 10 brands in the product placement category totaled 12,445 occurrences through the third quarter of the year (See Table 3).

The top 10 programs that featured product placements in the first half accounted for 27,244 occurrences. The Contender was the number one program, with more than double the amount of product placements than the number two program, American Idol, 7,514 and 3,497, respectively. Interestingly, these two programs are currently not on air, yet still represent the largest number of product placements. Many of The Contender’s placements were for Everlast Apparel and Sporting Equipment, while American Idol’s was for Coca-Cola (See Table 4).

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