Adspend for the first three quarters of 2002 totaled $84.4bn (拢53.3bn) compared with $82.6bn for the same timeframe in 2001, according to data and analysis from CMR/TNS Media Intelligence.
CMR said that the year-on-year growth was attributable to several key factors: the mid-term elections, strong upfront sales and a rebound from the September 11 tragedy, when more than $300m in spending was lost in the television market.
The largest spike in local advertising was for spot television up by 14.7%, followed by local radio up 9.5% and local newspapers up 7.6%. There was good news also for network TV, which was up by 7.07% and supports recent comment made by executives at Fox and others at the network majors.
Earlier this year, Fox Entertainment chief executive Peter Chernin said that strong local television advertising sales was driving a recovery. In June, US television networks reported advertising rates rebounding by as much as 10% for the autumn, following the upfront season. NBC and CBS, the two leading networks, recorded the biggest increases in the cost of airtime, while Fox and ABC had smaller increases in the region of 4%.
CMR said Spanish-language network television continues to be the most dynamic media, closely following US demographic trends. This market was up 25.5% for the first three quarters of the year.
George Shababb, senior vice-president CMR/TNS Media Intelligence, said: "Compared with the depressed levels of 2001, we have seen adspend rebound nicely. We estimate that adspend for 2002 will reach the 2.5% growth we forecasted earlier in the year. This is due to the additional ad dollars that were spent in November to support the final election push and the upcoming holiday season."
According to CMR, General Motors remains the top-spending advertiser for the first three quarters of 2002, even though spending by the automotive firm rose just modest 1.8%. Mobile phone firm Verizon continued its push in the telecoms market and showed the most significant rise in adspend, rising 36.9%. Other big spenders were Procter & Gamble and Pfizer, spending up 21.2% and 15.3% respectively.
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