U.S. ad spending down 0.3% in first quarter

Total U.S. ad spending declined by about 0.3% in the first quarter of 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence release, reported in MediaDaily News. The top 10 advertisers reduced spending by 8%.

TNS MI President-CEO Steven Fredericks attributed some of the fall-off to comparisons with a Winter Olympics inflated ad marketplace during the first quarter of 2006, but acknowledged that "core growth rates have slowed further from last year's lackluster levels."

The lackluster nature of the U.S. ad marketplace was most evident among the biggest ad spenders, including No. 1 advertiser Procter & Gamble, which slashed its first quarter spending by 8.6% to $722.7 million due to cutbacks in its healthy and beauty aid products. No. 2 advertiser AT&T dropped 19.2% despite an aggressive advertising effort behind its consolidation with Cingular, and No. 3 advertiser General Motors was off a whopping 30.9% (see table below). Other big advertiser spending hits occurred among the studios with Time Warner down 7.3% and Walt Disney Co. down 4.6%.

In total, six of the top 10 advertisers were down, and the group as a whole has slashed ad spending 8.0% vs. the first quarter of 2006.