CMR: Ad Spending Dips 2%

Advertising spending for all media is down 0.2 percent for the first half of 2002 compared to first-half revenues in 2001, according to CMR, a Taylor Nelson Sofres company.
For radio advertising, national, spot and local combined was $4.2 billion for the first six months of 2002, compared to $3.9 billion for the same period a year ago. With a 7.5% gain, radio gained the most of all media, second only to Spanish-language television, which gained more than 26% for the period compared to the first six months of last year. Internet and outdoor advertising fared the worst with roughly 1% changes over the year before.
CMR/TNS estimates that total ad spending for the first half of 2002 came in at $53.7 billion, compared to $53.8 billion for the same timeframe in 2001. “The health of the market is steadily coming back to life,” said David Peeler, president and CEO of CMR/TNS. “Compared to the dramatic plummets in spending throughout the course of 2001, to be down by less that 1 percent in expenditures is a positive step in the right direction for ad recovery”
General Motors Corp. spent the most ad bucks between Jan.-June of this year at $1.1 billion, followed by Proctor & Gamble at $966 million.