New York, NY, December 17, 2012 – Total advertising expenditures in the third quarter of 2012 increased 7.1 percent from a year ago and finished the period at $34.5 billion, according to data released today by Kantar Media, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing information. Total spending for the first nine months of the year grew 3.8 percent to $101.3 billion.
“Political campaigns and the Summer Olympics delivered their expected bonanza in the third quarter, adding roughly $1.8 billion of incremental spending to the marketplace,” said Jon Swallen, Chief Research Officer at Kantar Media North America. “Looking beyond these special events and focusing on indicators of core health, our data show that more than 60 percent of the Top 1000 advertisers increased their budgets year-over-year. This proportion has been stable for several quarters and indicates marketers are holding the course.”
Measured Ad Spending By Media
The Summer Olympics and political advertising dominated the ad market in the third quarter of 2012. Television media were the prime beneficiaries. Network TV expenditures rose 29.9 percent, with the London Games generating approximately $1 billion of incremental money for the sector. Spot TV spending surged 19.8 percent as the expected flood of money from political candidates, parties and groups rolled in.
Spanish Language TV budgets increased 17.8 percent, aided by the combination of higher sell-out levels at key national networks and political category spending on local stations. Syndication TV expenditures jumped 9.3 percent on strong growth from consumer package goods, insurance and restaurant marketers. Cable TV expenditures grew by just 2.9 percent, a slower rate of growth than previous quarters, reflecting the diversion of some TV advertising budgets to the Olympics.
There were some gains beyond the television sector. Network Radio spending rose 26.3 percent in Q3 but comparisons were inflated by the addition of more radio programming to Kantar Media’s monitoring. Expenditures in National Spot Radio were 9.4 percent higher with about one-half of the net dollar volume growth attributable to the political category.
FSI budgets increased 17.3 percent and were helped by the unusual timing of a 13-week quarter that had 14 Sundays, a prime day for the distribution of printed coupons. Outdoor media expenditures grew 4.9 percent on the tailwinds of higher spending from local retail and service businesses.
Internet Display advertising fell 4.3 percent in the third quarter. Spending totals, which do not include either video or mobile ad formats, were dragged down by weaker results from mid-size web sites.
Print media continued to lag the overall ad market. Expenditures in National Newspapers tumbled 17.2 percent on commensurate reductions in the amount of space sold. Consumer Magazines fell 3.2 percent as weaker spending from pharmaceutical and direct response marketers negated gains from the apparel and food categories.
Local Newspaper revenues increased 0.8 percent solely due to having an extra Sunday in the reporting quarter. Without this bonus, expenditures would have dropped by roughly 3 percent which is in line with recent quarterly results. The additional Sunday also helped Sunday Magazines limit its year-over-year decline to just 1.8 percent.
Measured Ad Spending By Advertiser
Spending among the ten largest advertisers in the second quarter of 2012 was $3,977.4 million, an 8.4 percent increase compared to a year ago. Among the Top 100 marketers, a diversified group accounting for more than two-fifths of all measured ad expenditures, budgets rose 11.7 percent. Seventy of the Top 100 marketers had a TV advertising presence in the Summer Olympics and these budgets were a major driver behind the robust increase.
Procter & Gamble was the top-ranked advertiser in the period, with measured spending of $770.9 million, an increase of 4.7 percent. The largest growth rate among the Top Ten was registered by Toyota Motor which spent $319.9 million, up 41.8 percent compared to a year ago, when operations were still curtailed by the Japanese tsunami and earthquake. Expenditures at rival automaker General Motors reached $471.8 million, up 24.6 percent, and were spurred by marketing launches from the Cadillac division.
Berkshire Hathaway cracked the Top Ten rankings by spending $347.2 million, up 26.6 percent. A major sponsorship position in the Summer Olympics fueled the increase. Media budgets at Comcast rose 5.8 percent to $418.2 million on stronger marketing support for its cable and telephony services.
Ad expenditures for the two largest wireless service providers continued to drift downward. AT&T expenditures fell 5.8 percent, to $384.3 million, and Verizon Communications reduced its media budget by 12.4 percent, to $344.9 million.
Measured Ad Spending By Category
Expenditures for the ten largest categories grew 8.4 percent in the third quarter of 2012 to $21,906.3 million.
Retail was the top category with expenditures of $3,930.1 million, up 8.1 percent versus a year ago. The growth was distributed across a broad cross-section of marketers.
Automotive was the second largest category by dollar volume, with media spending of $3,820.3 million – a 20.7 percent increase. Manufacturer ad budgets rose 21.9 percent and dealers spent 19.1 percent more as the sales climate for new vehicles remained vigorous.
Third quarter expenditures for Telecom were up 9.9 percent to $2,151.2 million. Category performance was divided with lower spending from the top wireless companies offset by increased investments from their smaller rivals plus the ongoing marketing battles among TV service providers.
Spending from the Restaurant category was $1,612.4 million, an increase of 12.1 percent, while Food & Candy expenditures rose 9.2 percent to $1,729.6 million. Summer Olympics investments contributed to the growth in each category.
Ad spending in the Financial Services category remained soft during Q3, dropping 2.3 percent to $1,872.2 million. Reduced budgets for credit cards and retail banking more than offset higher expenditures for investment products and financial planning services.
About Kantar Media
Kantar Media provides strategic advice and competitive intelligence to the world’s leading brands, publishers, agencies and industry bodies, helping them navigate and succeed in a rapidly evolving media industry. This includes analysis of paid media opportunities; counsel on brand reputation, corporate management and consumer engagement through owned media; and, evaluating consumers’ reactions in earned media. Kantar Media provides clients with a broad range of insights from audience research, competitive intelligence, vital consumer behavior and digital insights, to marketing effectiveness and online influence. Our experts currently work with 22,000 companies tracking 3 million brands in 50 countries. www.KantarMediaNA.com