Indiantelevision.com Team

(31 December 2007 3:00 pm)

MUMBAI: US media research company Nielsen has reported that ad spending for the first three quarters of the year in the US decreased by 0.1 per cent over the same period last year.

The Internet continues to demonstrate the strongest performance (15.9 per cent rise) of any category.

According to preliminary figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus other categories that showed an increase during the first three quarters of this year were: National Magazines (7.7 per cent), National Sunday Supplements (6 per cent), Outdoor (5.7 per cent) and National Cable TV (1.2 per cent).

Ad spending across monitored media for the top 10 companies in the first half of 2007 reached $30.5 billion, down an average of 6.3 per cent from the same time period in 2006. Eight out of the 10 advertisers decreased budgets. General Motors continues to show the largest decline.

Spending for the 10 largest categories reached $20.8 billion in the first three quarters, 2.3 per cent less than the same period last year. Most product categories have decreased their ad spending, with the exception of Pharmaceuticals, Wireless Telephone Services, and Direct Response Products. The top category in terms of increased ad spend was Wireless Telephone Services at 7.3 per cent -- Verizon Wireless was the top brand in terms of total ad spending for this time period in the wireless product category at $449.2 million, and AT&T Wireless second at $402.5 million in ad spend.

Broadcast Network Product Placement:
Nielsen Product Placement Service reports an increased number of product placement occurrences in prime-time broadcast network programming for the first three quarters of 2007, based on its Top 10 Programs Broadcast Network ranking (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW and MyNetworkTV tracked). The Top 10 programmes featured 22,046 occurrences compared to 19,125 occurrences for the same time period last year.

American Idol is once again the #1 show in terms of the number of product placements, a position it held last year. During the first three quarters of 2007, American Idol featured 4,349 product placement occurrences.

The Top 10 featured brands on prime-time broadcast network television for first three quarters of 2007 accounted for 9,198 occurrences. A slight increase compared to the same time period last year when 9,181 brands were reported. Coca-Cola, primarily through its association with American Idol, was the top brand once again, with 3,111 occurrences for this time period. Chef Revival apparel placed second with 1,256 product placements - Chef Revival Apparel outfits the cast on Fox's reality programme Hell's Kitchen.