Display Revenue Growth Outpaced By Total Ad Market In First Half 2010

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The softening of the economic recovery and weaker consumer spending didn’t dim ad expenditures in the first half of the year, as the general ad market finished higher than the online segment, according to the latest figures from WPP Group’s Kantar Media (f.k.a. TNS Media Intelligence). The pent-up demand of advertisers after two years of consistently pulling back on spending helped drive total ad dollars up 5.7 percent during 2010’s first six months, while online — i.e., display only, as Kantar doesn’t include search — grew 5.3 percent during the same period.

The jump in ad spending this past year was led by a increase of TV ad spending. Cable TV, which was up 8.8 percent, and broadcast, which gained 7.2 percent, specifically benefitted from selling more ad time and increased spending across a broad range of retail and consumer package goods categories, Kantar said.

Even national newspapers outpaced both the general market and online, growing 7.1 percent, though that was attributed to better performance at the WSJ. Therefore, there was nothing really to celebrate in that segment, as local newspaper ad spend fell 4.6 percent compared to last year and has now weathered 19 consecutive quarterly declines. Consumer magazines, meanwhile, hit bottom and began to see a rise, though the space was only able to realize a slim 1.5 percent increase in ad spending.

The top ten largest advertisers spent 11.5 percent more in the first half of the year than they did during the same timeframe last year. Procter & Gamble was still the biggest advertiser, spending $1.14 billion between January and June, 31.1 percent more than it spent in first half of ’09.

While the economic outlook is looking bleaker, Jon Swallen, SVP Research at Kantar Media, believes that the decent ad growth experienced this past year will be extended into the latter half.

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