Dive summary:
- Ad spending held flat in the first quarter, but experienced a 3.5% increase in Q2 over last year, partially due to last year's below-average second quarter.
- Two unusual factors contributed to the 3.5% gain in Q2; last year, ad spenders were conserving budgets for the summer Olympics while this year's second quarter had more NBA playoff games than usual.
- Retail was the quarter's biggest ad spender with $3.8 billion in measured media.
From the article:
"Ad spending for TV as a whole in the second quarter grew 6.4%, with cable TV seeing a 14.9% boost and broadcast TV rising 4.9%, according to Kantar Media. Along with the assist from the NBA playoffs, TV's second-quarter business also benefited from a scheduling change that moved the NCAA Final Four basketball games into April from March."
