Ad Spending Increases Slightly In 3rd Quarter, Despite Conservatism Of Biggest Advertisers

U.S. advertising spending in the third quarter slowed to a crawl, though it was slightly higher than during the same period a year ago, according to a report from the Kantar Media unit of WPP. Advertising forecasters had predicted that overall ad spending would decline the third quarter, but it instead increased by 0.4 percent. According to a Kantar analyst, the slowdown in spending was due to a decision by big advertisers to take a cautious approach during the quarter, though medium-size advertisers increased their spending. The combined spending data from the 10 biggest advertisers indicated a drop of 3.3 percent over last year. The biggest reduction was by Procter & Gamble, which cut its ad spend by 11.9 percent.