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 outdoor and B2B magazine ad spending.

Despite the struggling economy, some financial services advertisers have boosted their ad budgets.

Spending by credit services companies and their Web-based services jumped by 22% from Q1 to Q3 2008, while investment services companies and their Web-based services — the industry’s biggest ad spenders so far this year — spent 6% more this year than in Q1-Q3 2007.

Credit card services companies, the second-biggest spenders among all financial services categories, saw their numbers remain relatively unchanged, dropping by less than one percent from Q1 to Q3 2008, compared with Q1-Q3 2007.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, and the St. Louis Business Journal.

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 services companies had shown increases.  In July and August, ad spending for the category was up by almost 27% over the same period a year ago.

Ad spending by other sectors of the financial services industry has declined steadily so far this year. 

In July and August, ad spending by mortgage service companies was down by almost 54%, compared to the same period in 2007.  Ad spending by loan companies also dropped by almost 37% between July-August 2007 and July-August 2008.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by the Associated Press and in Ad Age, the Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, Broadcasting & Cable, and Adweek.

Despite a continued softening of the economy, several media showed healthy growth in advertising for the first half.  Advertising on Cable TV (+8.1%), Syndication TV (+7.2%), and National Sunday Supplements (+7.2%) saw the largest growth, according to Nielsen.  Spot Radio fared worst among the 19 media categories analyzed by Nielsen (-10.1%). 

Although overall Internet ad spending, when including paid search and online video advertising, was up by 11% during the first half of this year, image-based Internet advertising declined by 6% during the first half of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.

Among specific product categories, Credit Card Services (+18.95%) and Direct Response Products (+20.48%) showed the strongest ad spending gains, while the Automotive (-.01%), Pharmaceutical (-4.76%), and Motion Picture (-4.64%) categories recorded the largest advertising declines.

The decrease in image-based Internet advertising was driven by a 27% drop in online ad spending by financial services companies, which decreased their spending from $1.5 billion in the first half of 2007 to $1.1 billion during the first two quarters of this year. 

Other industries — entertainment (+47%), automotive (+45%), and consumer goods (+32%) — showed strong increases in image-based online advertising during the first half of 2008.

View the full press release.

View Nielsen Online’s report on first half 2008 online ad spending.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Wired, Investment News, the Financial Times, Crain’s New York Business, TV Week, Broadcasting & Cable, MediaPost, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, and Mediaweek.