Dive Brief:
- AdAge’s 60th annual Leading National Advertisers report found that spending by the top 200 U.S. advertisers grew by only 2% last year.
- This growth represents the slowest since ad budgets bounced back in 2010.
- Part of the blame can be attributed to ad spending going under review, and marketers reallocating budgets seeking better results.
Dive Insight:
The Advertising Age Leading National Advertisers report that tracks the spending of the top 200 U.S. advertisers found that spending grew by a mere 2% last year, the weakest growth since ad budgets recovered in 2010. At the same time advertisers spent a record $137.8 billion in 2014.
About these results, Bradley Johnson, AdAge’s director of data analytics, said, “The report demonstrates how blue-chip marketers are getting more bang for their billions of bucks. The story is not that marketers are pulling back. They are spending smarter, doubling down on digital strategies and taking unnecessary costs out of marketing.”
Previous Marketing Dive reporting on Kantar Media research found U.S. ad spending down 4% in Q1 as compared to the same time period last year, and even taking into account special advertising events such as the Sochi Winter Olympics spending was still down 2% year-over-year. The one bright spot in the Kantar Media report was cable network ad spending up more than 4%.
