Ad spend was down by $10.3bn when compared to the same time period in 2008, with all media categories apart from cable TV suffering a decline in expenditure.
Cable TV ad spending increased by 1.5% year on year. This increase is especially significant since Nielsen reported cable TV spend was down 2.7% through the first quarter of this year.
Spanish language cable TV also experienced an increase, rising by 0.6% year on year.
All other media showed declines, ranging from the internet, down 1%, to local Sunday supplements, which suffered a massive fall of 45.7%.
In terms of product category ad spend, automotive was the biggest spending sector, hitting $3.68bn. However, this figure was down 31%, or by $1.68bn from a year ago.
Local auto dealerships also cut back spending significantly, declining 26.2% in the first half of 2009.
Among the top ten product categories by spend were fast food restaurants, which experienced added spending from many companies, including McDonald's and Domino's Pizza.
This industry is thriving during the economic downturn and placed second behind the automotive category, hitting $2.2bn -- an increase of 5.1% year on year.
Spending on multi-function mobile phones such as smartphones showed the most significant growth among all product categories which spent a minimum of $200m in the first half of the year.
Promotion of Apple's iPhone 3GS and other smartphones helped the category surge to $233m, an increase of 104% year on year.
Annie Touliatos, vice president for Nielsen's advertising information services, said: "While some of the larger categories have cut back spending, we see others which continue to raise the ante on their media investments.
"What's interesting is that we're not just seeing a rise in spending for recession-friendly products like fast food restaurants.
"We're seeing a lot more promotion of technological innovations like smartphones, computer software, and consumer-driven web sites.
"These advertisers see potential for their products despite our stressed economy and are leveraging advertising to drive their success."
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