US Ad Spending Down 9% in 2009

Advertisers spent an estimated $117 billion on US media in 2009, down 9% from the previous year—and continuing a trend of six consecutive quarters of negative growth in the ad industry, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen.

However, fourth-quarter ad spending was down just 2% year over year, softening the full-year decline and providing signs of encouragement that the downward trend may be slowing, Nielsen reported (pdf).

Declines in ad spending were driven by category giants, including automotive and wireless telephone services. A bright spot amid the dismal performance: Spending by Web-based advertisers climbed 32%, to $1.1 billion in 2009, paced by dramatic spending increases by Hulu and Bing.

2009 Ad Spend by Product Category (Top 10)

Automotive-related advertising, including factory and dealer association spending, was down 23.4% for the year, to $8.0 billion from $10.5 billion in 2008. Local dealer ads fell 23.0%, to $3.2 billion, from $4.2 billion in the previous year.

Ad spend by wireless telephone services, the fifth-largest product category, fell 8.2% for the year: to $3.4 billion, from $3.7 billion in 2008. Furniture store ad spending fell 7.4%, to $1.4 billion, from $1.5 billion in the previous year.

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