Good News on Ad Spending

[Disciple]

For those who are under the mistaken notion that the 300+ new channels that have launched since 1995 have no effect on the ratings and spending trends of sports and such on television, some interesting stats are out today from the Cable Advertising Bureau by way of Broadcasting and Cable magazine.

National and network cable ad spending for 2003 hit a record $12.7 billion, which is up $1.82 billion, or 16.7%, from 2002. Broadcast TV still had the lion's share of ad dollars at 58.8% ($21 billion, but that was down from 60% in 2002, according to CAB, while cable's total was up from 31.5% in 2002 to 34,1% in 2003.
The advertiser with the biggest boost in cable ad spending was Procter & Gamble, up $128.3 million from the year before.

The top category of advertising was automotive, up 13.1$% to $1.1 billion, and that is probably why car prices keep going up and why you’ll see entire local breaks filled with cars. On a side note, I had a huge fight with the last car dealer with whom I last dealt, and at issue was a line item stuck on the final version of the contract that charged $500 for ‘regional advertising fee.’ I refused to pay, but had to listen to ‘we ARE REQUIRED to charge that’ and subsequently head for the door before they caved.

Bottom line: Ad spending is up in general, and that bodes well for those with enough foresight and desire to convert the trend into motor sports sponsorship in the IRL.

[dirtfan]

Back in '69 I think advertising was about $200 on a $2,000 Toyota. That may have been total, so today it might be $2000-$4000 per car including national.