2007 US Advertising Expenditures

The US advertising market continued to sputter at the end of 2007 and finished the year with measured spending of $148.99 billion, up 0.2% from 2006, according to TNS media intelligence. Fourth-quarter expenditures fell 0.1% from a year earlier, it said.

“As a whole, the ad market remains stalled and is being engulfed by the spreading pessimism about general economic conditions,” said Jon Swallen, SVP of research at TNS media intelligence. “Fourth quarter performance was indicative of this malaise and early figures from 2008 suggest the growth rate for measured ad spending has not appreciably changed.”

Below, the data issued by TNS.

Measured Ad Spending by Medium

Internet display advertising continued its growth leadership, increasing 15.9% in 2007 to $11.31 billion in expenditures. Consumer Magazines registered a 7.0% gain to $24.43 billion on the strength of higher spending by consumer packaged goods marketers. Cable TV spending surged in the second half and finished 2007 at $17.84 billion, an increase of 6.5%. Outdoor advanced by 4.9% to $4.02 billion.

Among television media, full-year Network TV expenditures declined by 2.0% to $22.43 billion. Spot TV, in the face of difficult comparisons against record-setting levels of 2006 political advertising, plummeted 10.2% to $15.59 billion. Syndication TV fell 1.5% to $4.17 billion.

Ad spending declines in Newspaper and Radio media accelerated during the fourth quarter. For the full year, Local Newspapers were down 5.6% to $22.66 billion and aggregate Radio expenditures slipped 3.5% to $10.69 billion. Both media suffered from spending reductions by automotive, media and retail advertisers.

Share of Measured Spending by Medium

Directional shifts in measured ad spending are revealed by the share allocations of individual media types across time:

• Internet display advertising and Magazines continue to gain share, finishing 2007 at 7.6% and 20.4%, respectively, of total expenditures.
• The offsetting share declines have principally come from Newspapers and Radio.
• Local TV, with its two-year business cycle tied to Olympic and political advertising, has also been edging downwards.

Television advertising

According to a recent study by Ball State University on the media consumption habits of average Americans, despite the Internet's steady rise in popularity over the last few years, television remains the dominant medium in most U.S. households. On average, the general population spends over four and a half hours a day in front of the tube, making TV watching one of the most common modern leisure activities.

Advertising on television allows you to show and tell a wide audience about your business, product, or service. It allows you to actually demonstrate the benefits of ownership. You can show how your product or service works, and how it's packaged so prospective customers will know what to look for at the point of sale. And even if they aren't looking for it, when they see it they might be psychologically reminded of their desire to have it. In advertising, it often takes multiple touch points to effectively influence consumers' purchasing behavior.

Television advertising has been a popular medium for large retailers ever since the television first began to appear in living rooms. With the arrival of cable television came lowered production costs and the opportunity to reach smaller, more geographically specific markets, making it a viable option for small-to medium-sized businesses as well.

To make an effective television advertising, it's first necessary to have a good script that highlights a strong offer. Ads must also be effectively produced, and it's for this reason that it's often better to enlist the services of an advertising agency, which can help you create an entire campaign.

Top 10 IT / Internet-Based Business/Finance Webs

The Hitwise data featured is based on US market share of visits as defined by the IAB, which is the percentage of online traffic to the domain or category, from the Hitwise sample of 10 million US internet users. Hitwise measures more than 1 million unique websites on a daily basis, including sub-domains of larger websites. Hitwise categorizes websites into industries on the basis of subject matter and content, as well as market orientation and competitive context. The market share of visits percentage does not include traffic for all sub-domains of certain websites that could be reported on separately.