Report: US Ad Expenditures Declined 3.9% in Q2

Total U.S. advertising expenditures declined 3.9 percent in the second quarter of 2015 to $38.0 billion, according to data released today by Kantar Media, the leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing information.

During the first six months of 2015 ad spending fell by an identical 3.9 percent.

“The prevailing view of the advertising market has become more tempered as the lethargic pace of spending has continued deeper into the year,” said Jon Swallen, Chief Research Officer at Kantar Media North America. “Measured ad growth is on track to lag nominal GDP for the fifth consecutive year since emerging from the Great Recession, a streak that might have once seemed unimaginable but now would seem to be par for the course.”

Media Platform Ad Spending in Q2

Fifteen of the 22 individual media types monitored by Kantar Media had lower ad spending in the second quarter. These results are consistent with the ongoing shift of ad budgets towards unmeasured digital media, as well as a general slowing of advertising activity.

Among television platforms, Network TV was the only sector to achieve growth in Q2 with expenditures increasing 1.0 percent; this can partially be attributed to deflated spending levels in the year-ago period, when the Winter Olympics pulled TV budgets forward into the first quarter and left less money available for the April-June period. On a normalized basis, Network TV spending was actually down slightly in Q2 2015.

Source: Kantar Media

1. Figures are sourced from the Kantar Media Stradegy™ multimedia ad expenditure database except where specifically indicated in these footnotes. Figures include Cable TV ( 76 networks); Network TV ( 5 networks); Spot TV (748 stations in 125 DMAs); Hispanic Network TV (5 networks); Internet display (3,018 sites monitored at least one year);Consumer Magazines (166 publications); Business-to-Business Magazines (245 publications); Sunday Magazines (8 publications); Local Magazines (29 publications); Hispanic Magazines (14 publications); Local Newspapers (134 publications); National Newspapers (3 publications); Hispanic Newspapers (41 publications); Local Radio (694 stations in 36 markets); Network Radio (5 networks); National Spot Radio (205 markets); Hispanic Local Radio (84 stations in 24 markets); and Outdoor (183 markets); Figures do not include public service announcements (PSA) or house advertising

2. Cable TV figures are based on 71 English language networks and do not include any Hispanic cable networks

3. Spot TV figures are based on 668 English language stations and do not include any Hispanic stations

4. Spanish Language TV includes 5 Hispanic broadcast networks, 5 Hispanic cable networks and 80 local Hispanic TV stations

5. Paid Search figures are based on text ads from Google and Bing delivered to desktop PCs and tablets. Product Listing and mobile ad formats are excluded. Data are provided by AdGooroo.

6. Online display expenditures reflect the value of desktop display advertising only. Video and mobile ad formats are excluded.

7. Magazine Platform data only reflects print editions of publications and includes Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data

8. Newspaper Platform figures only reflect print editions of publications

9. Radio Platform figures only reflect commercial spot sales

10. FSI data represents distribution costs only for print FSIs. Data is sourced from Kantar Media Marx ProMotion Services.

Source: Kantar Media

1. Figures do not include FSI or PSA activity

2. The sum of the individual categories can differ from the total shown due to rounding