Entries overall fell by 19.9% compared to 2008 as agencies continue to rationalise costs in the downturn.
Cannes Lions are a centrepiece of the festival, which runs from 21-27 June this year.
Festival CEO Philip Thomas said: "Although there are naturally fewer entries across the categories, the Lions remain the ultimate global awards to win with more than 22,600 entries from 86 countries competing. We look forward to the 11 juries arriving in Cannes to honour the finest creative work the world's communications industry has to offer."
Interactive category the Cyber Lions, now the competition’s biggest, had 2205 entries but this marked a decline of 20% year-on-year.
Cost is the likeliest chief deterrent this year – Direct Lions entries cost 380 euros each, with Film Lions entries costing 620 euros a piece.
Though the number of direct entries fell by 19.6%, from 1364 entries this year compared with 1697 entries in 2008, DM did not suffer the biggest decline of all the sectors.
Entries into the Press Lions, down 32.2% and Film Lions, down 25.4%.
Only two categories, design and promotion, saw increases in entries. Design rose by 1.2% and promotion by 1.4%.
Direct and Promo Lions entry submission forms and voting criteria were amended this year to place more emphasis on results.
This year sees the launch of the PR Lions, which attracted 431 entries from 239 companies in 48 countries.
Speakers at Cannes 2009 include Kofi Annan, Barack Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe, Sir Martin Sorrell, Maurice Lévy, Google's Eric Schmidt, and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft.
More than 10,000 registered delegates from 94 countries and around 12,000 total visitors from the advertising and allied industries are expected to attend this year.
The first edition of the festival was in September 1954.
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