WSJ.com - Ad Icon P&G Cuts Commitment To TV Commercials

Tags: Advertising, Marketing

The lead story in today's Wall Street Journal continues the drum beat of press noting that large traditional advertisers are becoming dissatisfied with 30-second spots on network TV. It also notes the softness of the upfront ad market for the networks that Blackfriars has previously commented upon.

That has stoked broader concerns over a long-awaited advertising slowdown for the industry. Despite such fears, TV advertising has risen in recent years; in 2004, $22.52 billion was spent on network TV, a 10.7% increase from the year before, while cable-TV spending rose 13.8% in 2004 to $14.25 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

But P&G has been cutting back on traditional TV spending of late. In the first quarter of 2005, the company cut its overall television spending by 8%, to $677.3 million, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, a unit of VNU's Nielsen Media Research which tracks advertising spending.