Despite hosting the Beijing Olympics, ad spending in China grew 17 percent in 2008, up from the 15 percent growth in 2007, but below the 23 percent growth posted in 2006, according to Nielsen. The total ad spend was 520.3 billion Yuan, or US$74.3 billion.
“The Olympics didn’t deliver the advertising boon everyone expected, as the bulk of China’s advertisers took an ad break during August, resulting in a monthly ad spend figure close to 2007 levels, and not much higher than in May, when the Sichuan earthquake hit and advertising …

The days of super sizing are over. The big players in grocery are opting for smaller, niche footprints in urban locations featuring a focus on packaged fresh food offerings. The idea is to make shopping more rewarding, and to reward consumers with coffee boutiques, new ideas, special discounts, free groceries and gas cards.

Third quarter data released Thursday by Nielsen showed a small decline in ad spending from January to September of this year.
Overall ad spending dropped 0.6% in the first nine months of 2008, compared to the same time period in 2007. 
The drop came despite overall growth in TV advertising.  Four of the top-five growing media were TV-based.

A sharp decrease in advertising spending by the mortgage and loan sectors led a 10% slide in spending across the entire financial services industry this year, according to an analysis released Monday by Nielsen.
Mortgage and loan companies, including Web-based companies, combined to spend 62% — or $778 million — less on advertising during the first three quarters of 2008, compared with the same time period last year.
Overall, ad spending by financial services companies dropped from $5.9 billion in Q1-Q3 2007 to $5.3 billion through September of this year, according to Nielsen.  Nielsen’s data excludes …

It’s time for that lesser-known American holiday tradition: the holiday food advertising bonanza — when ads for Thanksgiving staples, like stuffing mixes, pie crusts, gravy mixes, and cranberry sauces, crowd onto the media landscape.
In 2007, ad spending for stuffing mixes increased 10,800% from the late summer months (Q3 2007: $45,180) to the fall (Q4 2007: $4.9 million).
During the same time frame, ad spending on products within the Pie Crust category grew from literally nothing (Q3 2007: $0) to $3.3 million.
Meanwhile, ad spending within the Gravy Mix category grew from nothing …

Olympics sponsors and their competitors ramped up their August ad budgets to maximize their exposure during the month of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
But according to Nielsen, many of China’s advertisers took a break from advertising in August, sending overall ad spending in China tumbling to levels last seen in May 2008, when the Sichuan earthquake hit and advertising was suspended for three days.
Advertising spending in China grew, year over year, by just 7% in August, Nielsen reported Monday.  In comparison, China’s ad spending grew by an average of 19% in the seven …

Advertising in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America grew by 1.5%, year-over-year, in the second quarter of 2008, Nielsen reported Wednesday.
Strong advertising growth in the Asia-Pacific region (+7.6% over Q2 2007) drove the increase, according to data released in Nielsen’s latest Global AdView Pulse report.
Ad spending trends worldwide showed significant variations — with overall advertising declines recorded in North America (-1%) and Europe (-3%).

Advertising by credit card services companies dipped significantly in the first three weeks of September, as the ongoing economic turmoil in the U.S. reached a boiling point, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported Thursday.
Among credit card services companies, TV ad units for Sept. 1 – 21, 2008 were down by almost 24% versus the same time period last year.
Most of the top advertisers in the Credit Card Services category — including Capital One, Discover, Synovus, Washington Mutual, and Visa — reduced their TV television advertising activity in September.
Earlier in 2008, advertising by credit card …

In 2007, U.S. advertisers placed $5.78 billion of advertising in Spanish-language media, according to a report issued Thursday by Nielsen’s Monitor-Plus advertising service.
That’s a 3% increase over the $5.63 billion spent on Spanish-language media in 2006.  Overall in 2007, U.S. advertising spending rose 0.6% over 2006.
Broadcast Media Partners Inc. (Univision’s parent company), which spent $205.9 million on advertising in 2007, was the largest advertiser across all Spanish-language media.  Lexicon marketing, which increased its ad spending by 38% from 2006 to 2007, showed the largest percentage increase.
The Automotive category, which spent just over $659.4 million …

This year’s presumptive presidential nominees seem hesitant to advertise over the Internet. According to Nielsen Online, the candidates have been active with search advertisements, with McCain getting 5.4 million hits in May, as opposed to Obama’s 1.8 million.
Mediaweek reports that digital ad executives say they are disappointed, puzzled, even a little impatient when it comes to the light spending to date. Meanwhile, those with firsthand knowledge of the campaigns say that in spite of the Web proving a fund-raising gold mine (particularly for Sen. Obama), senior officials continue to …