Last Year Was a Good Year for Ad Spending, Report Finds

The recovery in advertising spending continued in the fourth quarter last year, resulting in a solid full-year gain compared with the results of 2009. Ad spending in the United States in the fourth quarter increased 7 percent from the same period of 2009, said Kantar Media, a unit of WPP that tracks marketing activity in major media. That, added to the results from the first three quarters of 2010, combined for a total increase of 6.5 percent compared with 2009. In 2009, ad spending fell 12.3 percent compared with 2008 as the poor economy led many marketers to cut back their spending for advertising. The gain of 7 percent for the fourth quarter was an improvement from the increase registered in the first three quarters of 2010 compared with the same period the previous year, which was 6.4 percent.