U.S. Advertising Expenditures For First Nine Months of 2005 … Hispanic Up 3.3%.

Total advertising expenditures for the first nine months of 2005 increased 3.0 percent to $104.1 billion compared to the same time period in 2004, according to data released today by TNS Media Intelligence, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. Total ad spending during the third quarter of 2005 was down by 0.3 percent compared to 2004, during which the Olympics and Presidential election greatly impacted the overall ad market.

“Advertising expenditure percentage growth through September is in line with our original 2005 forecast of 2.9 percent,” said Steven Fredericks, President and CEO of TNS Media Intelligence. “It is important to recognize that when we factor out the incremental 2004 ad volume attributed to the Olympics and the Elections, core ad spending grew by approximately 4.5 percent during the January to September period and 3.9 percent during the third quarter.”

TNS MI estimates the third quarter losses in measured local media ad spending due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were $15-$20 million; about one tenth of one percent of the $13.3 billion spent on local media during the quarter.

Ad Spending by Media

The majority of 19 media measured by TNS MI experienced growth during the first nine months of 2005. Cable TV demonstrated the largest growth, up 12.2 percent to $11.5 billion behind the ongoing strength of thematic, special interest networks. News channels have recently under performed due to the absence of political advertising, trimming the increase in total ad spend for the medium.

In addition, Internet display advertising continued to expand, up 11.5 percent to $6.1 billion for the first three quarters of the year. The engines of growth were the ongoing reallocation of budgets by large, blue chip advertisers and resurgent spending by dot com brands. For the first time since the dot com bust, online brands accounted for a majority of Internet ad spending.

Local Newspaper led with most total dollars spent at $18.3 billion, up 2.5 percent compared to the same period in 2004. Network TV was the second leading category with $16.1 billion. This figure was down 1.9 percent when compared to the same period in 2004, which was buoyed by the Summer Olympics.

Ad Spending by Advertiser

The top 10 advertisers for the first nine months of 2005 spent $13.0 billion, up 2.2 percent compared to 2004. General Motors continues to outpace Procter and Gamble as the leading advertiser, with $2.1 billion in spending, up 10.4 percent from the previous year. Procter & Gamble spent 5.8 percent less, bringing their total expenditures down to $1.9 billion. This decrease is consistent with public statements by the company that it intends to shift marketing budgets away from media advertising.

Other companies with strong advertising expenditure growth included Time Warner Inc., up 10.2 percent to $1.4 billion; Johnson & Johnson, up 14.7 percent to $1.1 billion; and Pepsico, up 21.9 percent to $935 million. The largest decrease among the top 10 advertisers was SBC Communications, with a 16.3 percent drop to $1.1 billion on cutbacks in its wireless divisions leading up to their merger with AT&T.

Ad Spending by Category

The automotive industry continued to dominate spending during the first three quarters of 2005. Non-Domestic Auto was the leading category with over $6.3 billion in expenditures, down 1.7 percent compared to the same period in 2004. Domestic Auto posted a 0.8 percent decrease to $6.1 billion with reductions concentrated towards the end of third quarter and associated with the winding down of “employee pricing” promotions.

Direct Response was the category with the strongest growth, up 17.5 percent to $4.4 billion and has now recorded seven consecutive quarters of double digit gains. Additional categories with strong growth included Restaurants, up 6.6 percent to $3.6 billion, and Financial Services, up 5.7 percent to $5.7 billion.

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