The turmoil on Wall Street may still have a negative impact on advertising spending this year, but it looks as though the belt tightening in the market began far before Lehman went bankrupt last week.
According to TNS Media Intelligence data released today, total measured advertising expenditures during the first half of 2008 declined by 1.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
Even worse, the slide grew in the second quarter, with ad spending down 3.7 percent compared to the second quarter of last year. Every one of the 19 measured media types posted weaker performance in the second quarter versus the first three months of 2008. This marks the largest quarterly decline since 2001.
"Advertising expenditures started to contract in March, well before the September turbulence on Wall Street renewed concerns about the health of the economy and possible collateral damage to the ad market," said Jon Swallen, Senior Vice President of Research at TNS.
