Posted: Mon., Nov. 29, 2004, 9:00pm PT

Blurbs binge by 10%

Figure buoyed by Olympics and elections

NEW YORK -- U.S. ad spending jumped a healthy 10.3% to $102.4 billion for the first nine months of this year, according to media tracker TNS Media Intelligencer/CMR.

Figure was buoyed by the Olympics and elections, which added about $2.3 billion to the total. Internet advertising surged 26% to $5.6 billion. Television ad spend rose 14% to $16.5 billion. Local newspapers firmed 6.6% to $16.6 billion.

Local radio, the only sector to dip, saw ad spending decline nearly 3%.

The top-10 advertisers boosted their spending by 6.8%. Procter & Gamble was the biggest spender, with $2.1 billion: General Motors was No. 2, at $2 billion; Time Warner was third, at $1.4 billion.

CMR estimated that TV ad spending on the Olympics reached $1.55 billion. In the nine months through September, political ads brought in $767 million. On Nov. 1, CMR estimated total political spending could top $1.45 billion.


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