Multi-Cultural Ad Spending Sees Declines in First Half of 2009

A new analysis of multi-cultural advertising indicates that ad spending in Spanish-Language media for the 12-month period of July 2008 to June 2009 was over $5.5 billion, a 6.3 percent decline over the previous 12 months. Over the same time period, African-American ad spending fell 9.6% to $1.8 billion.

Automotive was still the largest spending product category  for Spanish-Language media ($381.7 million), despite a 40 percent cut in spending compared to the previous 12 months. Wireless Telephone Services (+4.8%), Quick Service Restaurants (+10.1%) and Direct Response Products (+18.1%) each saw an increase in Spanish-Language ad spend and fell within the top five product categories.

TOP 5 SPANISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA AD SPENDERS, PRODUCT CATEGORIES

RANK	PRODUCT CATEGORY	Q308-Q209 (millions)	Q307-Q208 (millions)	CHANGE
1	Automotive (Factory & Dealer Associations)	$381.7	$640.6	-40.4%
2	Wireless Telephone Services	$334.8	$319.5	4.8%
3	Quick Service Restaurant	$322.8	$293.1	10.1%
4	Department Stores	$291.2	$299.6	-2.8%
5	Direct Response Products	$234.3	$198.3	18.1%
Source: The Nielsen Company 2009

Automotive’s African-American media budget saw a 33.5 percent plunge compared to the previous 12 months, even as it continued to top all other product categories. Quick Service Restaurants (-6.4%), Department Stores (-20.1%), Motion Pictures (-20%), and Wireless Telephone Services (-16.7%) rounded out the top five African-American ad spenders, despite each chopping their ad budgets.

TOP 5 AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEDIA AD SPENDERS, PRODUCT CATEGORIES

RANK	PRODUCT CATEGORY	Q308-Q209 (millions)	Q307-Q208 (millions)	CHANGE
1	Automotive (Factory & Dealer Associations)	$82.6	$124.2	-33.5%
2	Quick Service Restaurants	$72.4	$77.4	-6.4%
3	Department Stores	$62.3	$78.0	-20.1%
4	Motion Picture	$53.3	$66.7	-20.0%
5	Wireless Telephone Svcs	$50.6	$60.7	-16.7%
Source: The Nielsen Company 2009

Download Nielsen’s full report on Multi-Cultural ad spending.