P&G, which has a $2.7 billion US media budget and is the country's largest advertiser, is reported to have cut the budgets it allocates to cable channels by a quarter and reduced its budgets to broadcast networks.
The move has prompted speculation that P&G's global marketing officer, Jim Stengel, is carrying out his threat to look "beyond the 30-second TV spot".
However, the reduced commitment could also mean that P&G is holding back advertising budgets in the hope that it will get better rates in the short-term "scatter" TV buying market. The bulk of TV airtime - between 75 per cent and 80 per cent - is sold at the upfronts negotiations, with the remainder of the inventory put in reserve for this scatter market.
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