US ad spending improves, but not for newspapers

MONTEREY, Calif.

Spending on advertising in the U.S. is rebounding and should rise this year after two straight years of declines, but the uptick isn't likely to help print and direct advertising, which have been hurting for several years now.

Meanwhile, cable television, mobile and Internet advertising rates continue to rise, media research firm SNL Kagan said Tuesday. Total spending on U.S. advertising should rise by 2.8 percent this year to $210.48 billion, up from declines of 5.5 percent in 2008 and 15.6 percent in 2009.

Advertisers pulled back on their spending during the recession as they sought to stretch their budgets and hold onto their money in an uncertain economy. But now the industry is rebounding and SNL Kagan said spending should grow to $214.3 billion next year and $275.8 billion by 2019.

Cable television is expected to rise 8.9 percent this year to $27.72 billion, after falling 4.2 percent from 2008 to last year.

Mobile advertising spending should rise 40 percent to $480 million and Internet advertising should rise 10.4 percent to $24.85 billion. Internet advertising is expected to more than double to $60.1 billion by 2019.

Spending on newspaper advertising will continue to tumble, although the declines are slowing. Spending on advertising in daily newspapers should fall 6.5 percent this year to $23.2 billion, which is less of a drop than last year's decline of 28.6 percent to $24.82 billion. The firm said spending on daily newspapers has fallen by nearly half from 1999 when spending was $46.3 billion.