National Radio Spending Up 15.9%, Local Rises 3.8%

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, January 4, 2011 | 3:29pm CT

Kantar Media reports U.S. advertising spending increased 6.4% in the first nine months of 2010. Total ad expenditures grew to $94.06 billion. Ad spending during the third quarter was up 8.7% versus last year, the largest quarterly gain since the end of 2004. Radio spending in National Spot Radio jumped 15.9% and Local Radio rose 3.8%. Network Radio registered a small increase of 1.7%.

"The advertising recovery expanded during the third quarter to include stronger participation by the long-tail of marketers beyond the Top 1000," said Kantar Media Senior VP/Research Jon Swallen. "Having fewer resources, this segment was previously cautious about raising budgets and it lagged behind the early year rebound in ad spending."

Television media continued to pace the advertising recovery. Spot TV expenditures surged 27.8% behind the swell of political advertising and sustained demand from automotive marketers and retailers. Spanish-language TV spending rose 11.9%, aided by the World Cup event during June and July. Gains for Cable TV (+9%) and Network TV (+6.1%) were driven by sharply higher spending from the auto, financial service and consumer package goods categories.

Internet display advertising had the second largest growth rate among the media sectors, up 7.7% compared to the year ago period. Outdoor was close behind with a gain of 7.3%.