Ad Spend Sinks 14% in H109

clipped from www.marketingcharts.com Ad spending fell 14.3% in the first half of the year, to $60.87 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The TNS number is similar to that reported two weeks ago by The Nielsen Company, which said that total ad spending was down 15.4% for H109, to $56.9 billion. Second-quarter spending was similar to Q1 spending, which could indicate that the steep decline may have have leveled off. These 14% declines represent billions of dollars in lost revenue, said John Swallen, SVP of research for TNS, who cautions that too much optimism could be premature. Early data from Q3 hint at possible improvements for some media because of easy comparisons against distressed levels of year ago expenditures, reports MediaBuyerPlanner.