Discovering the Riches of TV Advertising

In these uncertain times, advertisers are taking solace in the glow of a television. Can investors also find a seat?

Growth in overall U.S. advertising spending began to slow early last year and may have declined in the fourth quarter. Preliminary data for October and November show total ad spending fell 0.3% from a year earlier, having risen 1.5% in the first nine months of 2011, according to Kantar Media's Jon Swallen. But TV ad spending was a standout, rising 4.2% in the two-month period, following a 2.3% rise in the year through September. Even spending on Internet ads, which had grown faster than TV in the first three quarters, declined 5.3% in October and November, Swallen says. TV's relative strength may seem surprising, given that the number of homes with pay television has stopped growing and people are spending more time on the Web. But advertisers still look to the most successful TV channels as a rare place to reach large, captive audiences. That said, the TV industry isn't sharing the ad dollars evenly.