Television media continued to pace the 2010 advertising recovery during the first nine months of the year, according to data released by Kantar Media. While overall TV ad revenues grew 10.5% from the first nine months of 2009, spot TV expenditures surged 27.8% behind what Kantar terms a swell of political advertising and sustained demand from automotive marketers and retailers.
In addition, Spanish language TV spending rose 11.9%, aided by the World Cup event during June and July. Kantar analysis indicates gains for cable TV 9%) and network TV (6%) were driven by sharply higher spending from the auto, financial service and CPG categories.
Total advertising expenditures in the first nine months of 2010 grew roughly 6% from the same period a year ago and finished the first three quarters at $94.06 billion.
Internet Display Grows 8%
Internet display advertising had the second largest growth rate among the media sectors, up 7.7% compared to the year-ago period. Outdoor was close behind with a gain of 7.3%.
Within the radio sector, all types achieved year-to-date growth. Spending in national spot radio jumped 15.9% and local radio rose 3.8%, with Kantar data suggesting each was paced by larger outlays from auto dealer and financial service advertisers. Network radio registered a small increase of 1.7%.
Consumer magazines, after a weak first quarter, rebounded solidly in subsequent months and year-to-date expenditures have risen 2.8%. Sunday Magazines (8.1%) benefited from higher spending by pharmaceutical companies and home improvement retailers.
National newspaper spending rose 6.8%, primarily from gains at the Wall Street Journal. Local newspaper expenditures fell 4.4% despite stable volume of ad space sold. Local newspaper spending has now declined for 20 consecutive quarters.
Top 10 Advertiser Spending Nears $12B
Spending among the 10 largest advertisers increased 5.9% to $11.91 billion in the first nine months of 2010. Procter & Gamble maintained its number one ranking by spending about $2.25 billion, an 18.7% increase compared to a year ago. However, its Q3 budgets were flat.
AT&T boosted expenditures 15.7% to $1.51 billion, with the consumer TV segment representing 10% of its ad dollars. Rival Verizon Communication cut its spending by 13.1%, to $1,406.8 million.
Despite a widespread surge in automotive category spending, General Motors was the lone auto advertiser in the Top 10. GM invested $1.48 billion in advertising , up 20.6% the first nine months of 2009.
Smaller increases were posted by News Corp. (8%, to $984.8 million), General Electric (5.4%, to $793.2 million) and Walt Disney (4%, to $776.9 million). Results for each of these companies were primarily shaped by their movie studio divisions.
Automotive Leads Top 10 Category Spending Drive
Expenditures for the 10 largest advertising categories rose 7.4% in the first nine months of 2010 and totaled $53.55 billion. Automotive was the leading category in both dollar volume and growth rate as spending accelerated 23.7% to $9.15 billion, reflecting the improved climate for vehicle sales. Within the category, manufacturers and dealers had comparable rates of increase.
Telecom was the second largest category, with nine-month expenditures growing a modest 4.7% to almost $6.4 billion. Slowing rates of spend in the wireless segment were offset by competition and larger budgets among TV service providers.
Year-to-date spending in financial services increased 9.4%, to $5.6 billion, although growth rates slackened during Q3. Kantar says results were skewed by a sustained marketing barrage from a handful of leading credit card issuers. Ongoing weakness in retail bank advertising and a recent slowdown by marketers of investment products pose threats to future growth.
Only two of the top 10 categories posted spending declines. Direct response budgets shrank by 6.2%, to about $4.5 billion. Pharmaceutical advertising was down 8.5%, to $3.16 billion, on broad reductions across top spending brands.
Marketing Content is 40% of Prime Time Network TV
In Q3 2010, an average hour of monitored prime time network programming contained nine minutes, four seconds (9:04) of in-show brand appearances and 14:47 of network commercial messages. The combined total of 23:51 of marketing content represents 40 percent of a prime-time hour.
Unscripted reality programming had an average of 11:10 per hour of brand appearances as compared to just 6:17 per hour for scripted programs such as sitcoms and dramas. Late night network talk shows had an average of 10:49 per hour. The combined load of brand appearances and network ad messages in these late night shows was 25:32 per hour, or 43% of total content time.
RAB: Q3 Natl Radio Revenue Jumps 10%
National radio advertising revenue totaled $700 million in Q3 2010, up 10% from Q3 2009, according to recent figures from the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). During the first three quarters of 2010, national advertising revenue climbed an even higher 14% to $1.97 billion.
