Ad Spending Climbs 5.1% in Q1 2010, Reports Kantar

The top 10
categories also boosted spending, by 7.8%, in the first quarter.

Top
Categories:

Of the top
10 spending categories in the first quarter, only one – direct response – fell,
down by 3.2%. Overall, expenditures for the ten largest advertising categories
rose 7.8% in the first quarter and totaled $17.95 billion.

Automotive
was the leading category by dollar volume and also had the highest growth rate
among the top 10, with spending up 18.6% to $3,016.8 million, ending a streak of
18 consecutive quarterly declines. Manufacturers and dealerships reacted
quickly to an improving sales environment by ramping up marketing efforts with
TV, magazines and radio being the main beneficiaries.

Telecom was
the second largest category as expenditures reached $2,276.5 million, an
increase of 10.6%. Financial services also experienced a revival, up 10.1% to
$2,028.7 million. Sharply higher spending from marketers of credit cards and
loan products offset continued weakness within the consumer banking segment.

Packaged
goods categories, where advertisers took advantage of soft ad pricing in 2009
to bolster their media weight, were undaunted by rising ad prices in the first
quarter of 2010. Spending from Food & Candy was up 7.3% to $1,600.0 million
and expenditures for Personal Care Products increased by 5.5% to $1,311.5
million.

Restaurant
category spending also turned around with modest growth of 3.1%, to $1.454.5
million. A major contributor to the gain was McDonald’s television sponsorship
of the Winter Olympics.

Kantar
reported that overall, ad spending climbed 5.1% in the first quarter.