According to the report for the full year 2008, Hispanic cable TV and cable TV were the only sectors to show ad growth.
Overall, expenditure declined almost $3.7 billion to a total spend of $136.8 billion in 2008.
"Given the state of the US economy, a decline in ad spending was expected, but it's not as bad as it could have been," Annie Touliatos, the vice-president of sales development for Monitor-Plus, Nielsen's ad tracking service, said.
"The campaign season and the summer Olympics were two big events that had a tremendous impact on advertising, especially on TV buys."
The top ten advertisers spent a total of $15.5 billion in 2008 – 15 per cent less than the year before.
Procter & Gamble maintained its status as the top-spending advertiser during the year, despite a 19 per cent decline from 2007.
Detroit's "Big Three" car manufacturers held on to their spots in the top ten, despite massive cuts to their ad budgets.
Cerberus Capital Management (Chrysler) and Ford Motor Company cut advertising 31 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
