Radio ad dollars way off year-to-year ...

But I bet you knew that...

From FMQB, via Frank Absher:

TNS Media Intelligence has released its figures on U.S. ad spending for the first half of 2009. Total ad expenditures for the first six months were down by 14.3 percent when compared to 2008, to $60.87 billion. In the second quarter of '09, ad spending was down 13.9 percent compared to a year ago, making the fifth straight quarter of declines.

Looking specifically at radio figures, overall ad spending was down for the industry by 24.6 percent compared to the first half of 2008. Local radio was down by 25.5 percent, with national spot radio dollars off by 29.2 percent and network radio off by 8.7 percent.

Radio saw the largest overall decline of any media industry measured by TNS. Television was down ten percent in the first half of 2009, with magazines off by 20.9 percent, newspapers down by 24.2 percent and outdoor off by 15.7 percent. Internet display ads were the only overall category to go up, with a 6.5 percent growth in ad spending.

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