U.S. Ad Spending Trends Down for Third Quarter (Report)

NY - Following recent reductions in 2012 U.S. advertising spending forecasts from Wall Street analysts (amid a still-weak economy, preliminary data for the first two months of the third quarter shows that ad spending could have actually declined in that quarter, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal said that data from Kantar Media shows that ad spending in July and August combined fell about 1.5 percent. In the second quarter, ad revenue rose 2.9 percent, and the first-quarter gain came in at 4.4 percent. That growth momentum was already down from the 6.5 percent increase reported for 2010. "If you plot year over year growth on a month basis, the trend line is inching downwards through the end of the third quarter," Kantar's senior vp of research Jon Swallen told the Journal. The company is set to release its third-quarter data only after Thanksgiving. During the latest quarterly earnings report season for Hollywood conglomerates, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said momentum in the scatter market for ad sales has seen a "slight softening." For 2012, analysts generally project ad growth thanks in part to the Summer Olympics in London and the U.S. presidential election. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Topics CBS Corporation