Indiantelevision.com Team

(24 September 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: US media research firm Nielsen has reported that ad spending for the first half of the year was down 0.5 per cent over the same period last year, with Internet spending showing the strongest performance (23.2 per cent growth) of any category.

According to preliminary figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus, which provides competitive advertising information, ad spending was mixed across media with gains in some categories and declines in others. In addition to internet advertising, other categories that showed an increase during the first half of this year were: National Magazines (8.4 per cent), National Sunday Supplements (6.5 per cent), Outdoor (5.1 per cent) and Spot TV Markets 101-210 (3.2 per cent).

Nielsen Monitor-plus senior VP client strategy and product development Brian Lane says, "Even in this soft market outdoor ad spending continues to show strength. This traditional medium has embraced technology and is offering more and more digital and interactive advertising opportunities.

"National magazine ad spending is also on an
upswing with increased rate card ad revenue reported for the first half of 2007," he said.

Ad spending across monitored media for the top 10 companies in the first half of the year reached $8.3 million, down 7.3 per cent from the same time period in 2006. Seven out of the 10 advertisers decreased budgets. General Motors continues to show the largest decline, cutting advertising for some truck brands, although they did increase spending on Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid trucks as well as Saturn hybrid cars and trucks.

Spending for the 10 largest categories reached $20.8 billion in the first half, two per cent less than the same period last year. Most product categories have decreased spending, with the exception of pharmaceuticals, wireless telephones, services and direct response products. The top category in terms of total dollars, automotive, also had the greatest dollar and per cent decline (-$671 million; -10 per cent).

Nielsen's product placement service reports an increased number of product placement occurrences in prime-time broadcast network programming for the first half of 2007, based on its Top 10 Programs Broadcast Network
ranking (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW and MyNetworkTV tracked). The Top 10 programmes featured 17,371 occurrences compared to 14,643 occurrences for the same
time period last year.

American Idol is once again the top show in terms of the number of product placements, a position it held last year. During the first half of the year, American Idol featured 4,349 product placement occurrences versus 4,086 occurrences for the first half of 2006. Fast Cars and Superstars, which premiered in June of this year, zoomed into second place with 3,231 occurrences overall.

The top 10 featured brands on prime-time broadcast network television for the first half of the year accounted for 6,848 occurrences. An increase compared to the first half of 2006 when 6,451 brands were reported. Coca-Cola through its association with American Idol was the top brand once again, with 3,054 occurrences in the first half of 2007.

The Pussycat Dolls Lounge Nightclubs placed second in terms of the brand with the most occurrences (750). The brand is directly linked to the show The Pussycat Dolls Present airing on the CW, and places in the top five among programs
with the most product placement occurrences. The Nike apparel brand had 511 occurrences, with a majority of the occurrences on the Amazing Race All Stars.

Nielsen's product placement service reports a slight decrease in the number of product placement occurrences in prime-time cable network programming for the first half of 2007, based on its Top 10 Programs Cable Network ranking (A&E, HGTV, MTV, TLC and Bravo tracked).

The top 10 programmes featured 92,925 occurrences for the first half of 2007 versus 107,792 occurrences for the first half of 2006.

American Chopper, which premiered in January on Discovery is the number one cable network show in terms of the number of product placements, with 29,476 occurrences. Dog the Bounty Hunter placed second with 12,321 occurrences and Miami Ink placed third with 10,892 occurrences.