US adspend rises 6.3% in 2004 as quadrennial events make impact

by Staff, Brand Republic 02-Mar-05, 11:00

NEW YORK - US advertising spend rose by 6.3% during 2004, boosted by the Presidential election campaign and the Olympics, with television and print seeing the biggest growth.

According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the top 10 companies spent 11.1% more on advertising in 2004 than in 2003, with the figure rising to $16.6bn (£8.7bn).

Procter & Gamble remains the biggest advertiser in the US, spending 9.5% more to bring its total up to $3.03bn. The next three biggest spenders were carmakers: General Motors, which spent $2.58bn, up 19.2%; DaimlerChrysler, up 34.6% to $1.8bn; and Ford, up 18% to $1.55bn.

The only advertiser in the top 10 to cut its spend over 2004 was Walt Disney, down 2.1% to $1.35bn.

Jeff King, managing director of Nielsen Monitor-Plus, said: "Ad spending was effectively spread evenly across the year, with the strongest quarter being the third, helped by additional spending from the summer Olympics and political advertising.

"The summer Olympics, with total spending reaching over $1.8bn, contributed to much of network and cable's increase. After several years of slow growth, syndicated TV advertising rose 13.7%."

The US remains the home of product placement on television, with a total of 23,526 occurrences of product placement in 10 shows alone, including 'The Apprentice', 'American Idol' and 'America's Next Top Model'. Coca-Cola was the most featured brand, followed by Nike and Pepsi.

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