U.S. advertising spending “will continue to register moderate growth in the upcoming quarters, similar to the levels achieved" in Q1, according to Friedman & Goetzl of MEDIAPOST. Kantar Media reported that ad sales across all media “were up 2.6% in the first quarter" to $32.9B, versus flat spending for the last six months of last year. Sports TV programming was “the prime mover behind year-over-year gains: 7.4% on cable TV networks and 7.0% in broadcast TV networks.” Two-thirds of the rise “came from TV spending on the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and the NFL post-season games.” The auto category “continued to be the largest with well over" $3.5B in spending (MEDIAPOST.com, 6/18). Meanwhile, AD AGE’s Brian Steinberg examines GM's recent ad strategy under Global CMO Joel Ewanick. He wrote that “more than a few noses have been put out of joint” with GM’s effort to “force the nation's biggest TV networks to submit to price cuts of as much as 20% during this year's upfront negotiations for ad inventory in fall prime-time programs.” While GM announced it wasn't going to advertise during Super Bowl XLVII, ad-buying execs indicated that GM “never finalized a deal with CBS to advertise" in the game. Steinberg: "It struck some as odd to tell the world you won't be taking part in an event to which you never bought tickets in the first place.” Rather than “keep his ad withdrawals quiet,” Ewanick has “trumpeted some of them loudly, in the process sparking debate over whether major cultural institutions -- Facebook, say, or prime-time TV -- mean as much as they once did” (ADAGE.com, 6/17).
