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.

Advertising spending for the first half of 2008 declined by 1.4% compared to the same period last year, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported Thursday.
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 …