DMN3 Blog

It looks like the future is brighter for professional marketers as advertising budgets recover from 2009. Here’s a look at 2010 advertising expenditures…

The economic rebound in the U.S. led to an increase in marketing budgets in 2010. After a dismal 2009, when advertising expenditures dipped 12.3 percent, 2010 saw advertising spending increase 6.5 percent compared to 2009. Total advertising expenditures for the year were 131.1 billion dollars according to Kantar Media. Kantar Media follows marketing spending over major media channels.

A new report from Kantar Media shows that with the exception of some troubled media, advertising spending is recovering as the U.S. economy improves.

The report issued on March 17^th, demonstrates that 2010 ad spending continued its growth over 2009 spending. The recent recession resulted in a dramatic decrease (12.3 percent) in ad spending from 2008 to 2009. The major exception to this drop in ad spending was digital display advertising which grew by 7.3 percent in 2009.

The fourth quarter ad spending increase was even larger than the previous three quarters (7.0 percent compared to 6.4 percent for the first three quarters). All four quarters of 2010 saw advertising expenditures increase over their counterparts in 2009.

Television advertising has led the turnaround with television ad expenditures up 10.5 percent for that media sector. While network television advertising expenditures increased 6.1 percent for 2010 as a whole, spot television advertising spending increased by 27.8 percent as advertisers attempted to get more bang for their buck.

Internet display ads increased 7.7 percent following a 7.3 percent increase in 2009. Online advertising has been the one solid bright spot during the economic downturn.

Outdoor advertising also saw good gains with advertising increasing by 7.3 percent.

Newspaper Advertising continues to see declining revenues. Ad spending in the Newspaper sector took a nose dive of 19.7 percent in 2009. 2010 advertising expenditures saw a continued decline of 2.9 percent over the low figures of 2009. The 4.6 percent fourth quarter decline in ad spending for local newspapers marks the twenty first quarter of declining spending on advertising.

This advertising decline mirrors a real and fundamental decline of local newspapers as consumers turn more and more to the Internet to receive their news. It also may mean the decline of advertising-supported content as newspapers struggle to find a business model that works in today’s world of 24 hour cable and Internet news programming.

The New York Times recently announced their transition to a subscription model for its Internet content, an approach championed by Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. The Wall Street Journal was the first major American newspaper to move to a subscription basis for access to its Internet content.

It should be noted that Spanish language advertising expenditures grew in all media categories measured, with television advertising growth leading the way with an 11.9 percent increase. Advertisers are increasingly aware of the potential of this demographic to sales success.

All in all the numbers bode well for marketing expenditures to continue to increase in 2011 as the economy continues to grow. It’s good news for all of us in the marketing profession.