Kantar Media: Marketers Spent $60 Billion on TV in 2009

Latest figures represent 9.5% drop, but show comparative resilience of TV sector

By Claire Atkinson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/17/2010 5:40:53 PM

Television advertising dollars fell almost 9.5% in 2009, to $60.3 billion, according to the data released March 17 by Kantar Media.

Not surprisingly, spot TV took the biggest fall in the TV sector, down 23.7%, to $12 billion. Network TV dropped by 7.6%, to $20.5 billion.

The cable TV segment saw the smallest drop off, taking a 1.4% fall, to $19 billion. National syndication fell by 4.9%, to $4.2 billion, while Spanish language TV dropped by 8.9%, to $4.3 billion.

The numbers show the resilience of television compared to other media. Radio fell by 20%, newspapers dropped by 19.7% while magazines fell 17.4%. The only segment in the plus column was Internet, with display ads up 7.3%.

Total ad spending in 2009 dropped to $125.3 billion, a 12.3% fall. Fourth-quarter ad spending was down by 6% versus the previous year. 

Advertisers who increased their ad spend in 2009 include WalMart, which added 35.4% to its measured media ad budget to reach $1.169 billion, followed by Pfizer, up 32.7%, to $1.39 billion, and Sprint Nextel, up 29.9%, to $1.2 billion.

Even General Motors, the only auto company to make the Top 10, spent 1.3% more than in 2008 to finish on $2.1 billion. Time Warner, the only entertainment company to place in the Top 10 marketers list, slashed ad spending by 6.8%, to $1.204 billion, down from $1.292 billion in 2008.