That Ad Slowdown? Already Here, Says TNS
Research firm TNS says you don't need to wait to see the ad pullback certain pessimists have been predicting. It's already come: U.S. ad spending grew all of 0.2 percent last year, but just 0.1 percent in Q4. But things will get better soon, right? Here's a pep talk from TNS exec Jon Swallen:
“Fourth quarter performance was indicative of this malaise and early figures from 2008 suggest the growth rate for measured ad spending has not appreciably changed."
Whoops. OK, here's some good news for some people: Internet display ad sales grew 15.9%.
We're a little unclear about how to interpret all of the data TNS has served up in a dense report: It says spot TV spending, for instance, decreased by more than 10%. But throughout last year and into 08, broadcasters and cable networks have been crowing about huge bumps in spot pricing. Any one have any insight?
RE: "The Ad Slowdown? Already Here Says TNS":
The fact that "spot TV' ad spending declined by 10% while cable and broadcast networks were claiming bumps in their "spot pricing" is not contradictory. It merely points to different definitions of the adjective "spot".
"Spot TV" refers to the ad time sold by local market TV stations as opposed to the ad time sold by national networks like CBS or ESPN. "Spot TV" ad spend was down sharply in 2007 from 2006 levels that were inflated by over $2 billion of political advertising.
"Spot pricing" refers to the cost of an individual commercial. The negotaited price is affected by supply, demand and the timing of when the purchase is made. Ten different advertisers, all airing spots in the same episode of a show, will likely have paid ten different amounts. And that gives sellers plenty of leeway to selectively pick the statistics they use when talking about pricing trends.