March 8, 2005

Nielsen reports online advertising spending in the US grew by 6.3% last year, when compared to 2003, with the automotive industry representing the greatest percentage of ad spending.

According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, advertising spending in the US grew by 6.3% in 2004 over 2003.

Specifically, Nielsen finds the automotive industry, including both factory- and dealer-generated advertising, experienced the greatest dollar rise in spending last year. Other notable industries included the credit card services sector which experienced a growth of 32.4% and the prescription drugs industry which upped its ad spending by 27.6% over the year.

Looking at the top 10 advertisers for 2004, Nielsen finds Procter & Gamble in first place spending over $3 billion in 2004.

However, the top company increased spending by 9.5% while other companies in the top 10 experienced double-digit increases like automotive giants General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and Ford Motors, major health care products brand Johnson & Johnson and telecom giant SBC Communications.

Total spending from the top 10 surpassed $16.6 billion for 2004.

Where does online fit into the overall ad spending picture? eMarketer estimatest that media spending in the US was over $264 billion in 2004, with online accounting for 3.6% or $9.5 billion.

Benchmarked against numbers from the IAB and PwC, eMarketer projects online ad spending will grow to over $17 billion by the end of 2008.

Source: eMarketer