Kantar Media: Advertisers up spending in Q3 2012

Q4 numbers are yet to be calculated, but if Q3 is anything to go by, 2012 will end with a strong online ad showing. According to data out from Kantar Media the total US ad spend topped $34.5 million in Q3, helped along by the 2012 Olympic Games.

by Kristina Knight

The top categories included television (15.3% increase in spending) and FSIs (17.3% increase in spending) while Magazines, Internet and Newspapers all showed declines of between 2% and 4%. Interestingly enough, both Radio (4.2% spending increase) and Outdoor (4.9% increase) had a strong showing through Q3.

In the lead-up to the always important holiday shopping season, the top advertisers according to Kantar included P&G, GM and Comcast; for the first time Berkshire Hathaway, INC hit the top 10 spenders, thanks to their sponsorship of the Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, eMarketer notes that the global ad spend is also showing steady increases, despite a still-struggling global economy. Their researchers suggest the total 2012 ad spend (global) will increase by more than 5% to reach more than $545 billion; researchers forecast that the global ad spend will increase between 4% and 5% each year through 2016, to reach more than $628 billion.

Latin America is leading the ad-race, with advertisers increasing their spending by 11% in 2012; Asia-Pacific (8.5% spending increase) and Eastern Europe (8.3% increase) are also showing strong growth rates.

For the US, eMarketer suggests ad spending will increase by 4.9% to hit $166 billion and by 2016, ad spending is expected to hit $189 billion.

Tags: ad spend trends, advertising spending, eMarketer, Kantar Media, online advertising