Although ad expenditures remained flat in the first quarter of 2013, Q2 exhibited a small improvement. Total ad expenditures in the second quarter increased 3.5% compared to that time period in 2012 and finished at $35.8 billion. Total spending for the first half of 2013 grew 2% to $68.9 billion, according to Kantar Media.
“Ad spend has now increased for six consecutive quarters and in reaching 3.5 percent growth for Q2, had its best performance in a non-Olympic period since the end of 2010,” said Jon Swallen, Chief Research Officer at Kantar Media North America. “However, the gain was boosted by two unusual phenomena. On one side, year ago spending was deflated by major advertisers who conserved budgets in advance of the Summer Olympics and this makes current year growth appear larger. On the other side, there were more NBA playoff games this year and it generated a sizable windfall of extra TV ad revenue. Without these factors, Q2 ad spend growth would have been lower by about one full percentage point.”
Here are three more high level insights from the report.
- Internet display advertising increased 4% in the second quarter with the biggest lift coming from financial service and telecom advertisers.
- Spending among the ten largest advertisers in the second quarter of 2013 was just over $4 billion, a 16% increase year-over-year. Procter & Gamble was the top-ranked advertiser in Q2 with a 35% uptick in spending, reaching $805 million.
- Looking at ad spend by category, Telecom showed the biggest surge among the top 10 with an increase of 20%, reaching $2 million. Kantar Media attributes the activity to the battle between Sprint and T-Mobile as each increased ad spend in an attempt to quash subscriber losses.
