When are Americans Watching? Whenever.
Over the past two years, since Q2 2009, timeshifted TV viewing jumped 31 percent with near-constant growth. Americans spend more than quadruple the time per week watching timeshifted content on a TV (via DVR, video on demand or DVD playback) as they do online video.

Americans 25-64 spend the most time watching timeshifted content but Americans 65+ and kids 2-11 are catching up, with heightened growth in time spent in recent quarters. Both groups experienced double-digit growth in time spent over last year, while those middle demographics remained relatively the same. White consumers are the most likely to have a DVR and, compared to all DVR households, timeshift more content than other ethnic groups.

How are Americans Tuning In?
Subscription shifts underscore that Americans are putting a new emphasis on broadband. Nearly three-fourths (72%) of U.S. TV homes pay for both a cable-plus TV subscription (cable, satellite or Telco) and broadband Internet. In fact, households with both cable-plus and broadband saw year-over-year growth of nearly 7 percent.

How Does Geography Factor?
Just as there are viewing differences across age, gender and ethnicity, there are regional differences as well. According to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report:

• The south spends the most time watching TV, with New Orleans taking the top spot.
• Baltimore has the highest video game console penetration.
• Dallas has the highest DVR penetration.
• Consumers in the Pacific (West) Region spend the most time watching video on the Internet while the East South Central region spends the most time on the Internet
• Miamians are most likely to have a mobile phone in their pockets.
• Bostonians have the highest Internet-enabled computer penetration.

Click here to download Nielsen’s Q2 2011 Cross-Platform Report

When considering new and flexible retail formats for grocery shopping, specific preferences emerge when it comes to particular online delivery options, according to Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Survey of more than 25,000 Internet respondents across 51 countries. While more than half (52%) of global online consumers say they are likely to place a grocery order online if it is delivered to their homes, less than one-third feel the same if they are required to pick up the online order curbside (27%) or via a drive-thru window (30%). Interestingly, more consumers—just over one-third (36%)—say they are willing to pick up an online order inside the store.

The online shopping/home delivery option is most embraced by consumers in Asia Pacific, where more than three-quarters (77%) say they are likely to take advantage of this option, which contrasts sharply with one-fifth of North Americans (20%) and one-third (35%) of Europeans. “The main resistance in developed countries in Europe and North America is primarily due to the high volume of grocery stores that are available,” said Jean-Jacques Vandenheede, Director Retailer Industry Insights, Nielsen. “In Asia Pacific, fewer physical stores and a very digital consumer base equal a fertile distribution channel for online.”  About half of respondents in Middle East/Africa (48%) and Latin America (51%) indicated they are likely to shop for groceries online for home delivery.

Using hand-held scanners to record purchases while shopping to avoid waiting on checkout lines was welcomed by half of global online consumers. While interest is again highest among Asia Pacific consumers (60% interested and only 14% unlikely to try it), in each region, more consumers indicated they are likely to try it than not.

For more detail and regional insights, download: Shopping & Saving Strategies Around the World.

By far, North Americans are the mostly likely to make a shopping trip to stock up on groceries, with 60 percent of North American consumers indicating their primary reason to make a trip is to stock up on staples. By contrast, 18 percent say they make a trip to pick up a few items, and just seven percent say they shop when they run out of something at home. “The impact of high gas prices in the U.S. has prompted consumers to combine errands and trips,” said Hale. “This trip consolidation has resulted in a reduction in small grocery trips in the U.S.”

A more even distribution of shopping trip missions is reported in Europe, where 37 percent say they stock up on grocery trips, one-in-five (21%) shop when needing a few essential items, and 25 percent make a quick shopping trip when they run out of something at home. “Retail trip missions in Europe are dictated by store infrastructure,” said Jean-Jacques Vandenheede, Director Retailer Industry Insights, Nielsen. “In countries where shoppers have a high density of stores to choose from, such as in Italy or Germany, shoppers tend to shop more often. In countries that are dominated by hypermarkets with less retailer availability, stocking-up is the more dominant shopping pattern.”

Conversely, stocking up for groceries is less common in Asia Pacific, Latin America and in the Middle East/Africa where roughly one-in-five consumers say that is the primary reason for the shopping trip. Across both the Asia Pacific and Middle East/Africa regions, about one-third of online consumers say a quick trip for needed items is the primary reason for shopping trips (32% and 33%, respectively). A similar, but slightly smaller, number say trips are made to purchase a few essential items (28% of trips in Middle East/Africa and 29% of trips in Asia Pacific). Similarly, in Latin America, the most commonly reported reason for making a shopping trip among one-third of respondents is to pick up a few essential items and one-quarter say they make a quick trip to replenish.

For more detail and regional insights, download: Shopping & Saving Strategies Around the World.

Reported use of coupons is greatest in North America (65%) and Asia Pacific (55%). The United States (66%), China (67%) and Hong Kong (65%) are the three leading markets for reported coupon use as a way to save money.

“About 80 percent of U.S. households use manufacturer coupons across all retail outlets, which is up slightly from 2009 to 2010,” said Todd Hale, SVP Consumer & Shopper Insights, Nielsen. “But coupon usage is concentrated—70 percent of 2010 manufacturer coupon purchases came from just 13 percent of coupon-using households. These coupon enthusiasts are big spenders across the total store and are young, more affluent and have large households.”

“In China, 35 percent of hypermarket sales in key cities are sold on promotion—a stable contribution over the past two years,” said Peter Gale, Managing Director Retail Sales, Nielsen Asia Pacific and Greater China. “In most Asian countries, simple price cut promotions are the main promotional vehicle supported by direct mail leaflets and newspaper advertising.”

While 38 percent of European consumers indicate using coupons to save, there is wide variation within the continent. While at least half of consumers reported coupon use in several western and southern European countries, such as Belgium and Portugal (63%), Greece (55%), France (53%), and Spain (50%), in other markets, particularly in northern and Eastern Europe, coupon use is much less prevalent. “Belgians are the record holders in terms of coupon redemption, but in countries like Germany or the Netherlands, their usage is very marginal,” said Jean-Jacques Vandenheede, Director, Retail Industry Insights, Nielsen Europe. “Many retailers in Europe are rather reluctant towards that practice.”

In Latin America and in Middle East/Africa, reported coupon use is much less common as a saving strategy. Only 25 percent of consumers in Latin America and 18 percent of respondents from Middle Eastern/African markets report using coupons. “In the Middle East, price cuts is the most popular promotional vehicle used by retailers along with volume discounts,” said Bassel Adel, Director Retail Services, Nielsen Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan. “However, consumers are gaining a greater awareness of leaflets, which are driving store visits and prompting retailers to actively advertise promotions in newspapers.”

For more detail and regional insights, download: Shopping & Saving Strategies Around the World.

The U.S. market, which faced six straight quarters of declines in ad spending, has seen a turnaround in 2010. In total, advertisers spent an estimated $54 billion during the first half of 2010. The increase in U.S. advertising reflects a modest improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the first half of the year, as advertisers look to highlight value deals and increase promotions in the hopes of spurring consumer spending.

However, with confidence still well below pre-recessionary levels, automotive was one of only a few bright spots in the top 10 product category ad spending.

Overall, there was a 3 percent increase in the top 10 product categories, with the largest growth by far seen in automotive (+27%) and auto insurance (+23%). The automotive advertising was driven largely by increased spending by General Motors which was up 73% over 1H09. Ford and Toyota also grew their ad spending by 15% and 22% respectively. An increase of 82% for UAW Health Care Trust contributed to the first half growth in the auto insurance category. All other categories, except department stores (+5%) and restaurants (+2%) showed declines in the first six months of the year.

“Not surprisingly, auto ad spending is closely tied to auto sales given that those sales dollars enable increased marketing expenditures,” said Sallie Hirsch, SVP of Research for Nielsen’s automotive unit. “Last year was abysmal for the auto industry as economic factors drove down sales to very low levels. Now that we’re seeing an improvement in the market and consumers are more willing to open their wallets, car sales have started to rebound and that’s what’s driving the increase in ad spending for 2010.”

Looking at ad spending across media types, U.S. television (network, cable, syndication, spot, Spanish Language network and Spanish Language cable) continues to dominate, accounting for $33.8 billion in advertising during the 1H10, a 6 percent increase over last year. Spanish language network TV and Cable TV in particular saw the biggest gains, up 24 percent and 13 percent respectively over 1H09.

Print media overall (national and local magazines, newspapers, Sunday supplements and B2B) was flat, however, national Sunday supplements received a significant uptick with 21.6 percent growth over last year. National newspapers were also up 10.8 percent. Alternatively, B2B and local Sunday supplements declined 19.2 percent and 12.1 percent respectively.

Universal Appeal
Virtually all online survey respondents in Latin America (96%) and Asia Pacific (92%) said they purchased H&B products, along with 90% of people around the world who made up the global average. But what prompts consumers to stock their cabinets with make-up, fragrances and personal care items?

For 44% of global respondents, it was the lure of the product’s promise. A pragmatic 69% of respondents said they were influenced by price, while 58% said they bought as a result of a personal recommendation. Magazine articles, Internet buzz and traditional ads all factored into the purchase equation as well.

Product samples helped about half of consumers along the buying path, as did the suggestion of a partner. But aside from price, the reason most consumers (65%) offered up for buying health and beauty products was the influence of their preferred brand.

Half of Asia Pacific respondents indicated that the Internet was a purchasing influence—the highest percent of any region. These consumers were also swayed by magazine articles (45%) and advertising campaigns (44%) more than other region. Conversely, European and North American beauty product choices were the least influenced by print and television ads, magazine editorial or the Internet and were most influenced by price; 82% of North Americans and 70% of Europeans agreed that price was a key determining factor.

Latin Americans said they were most persuaded by their preferred brand (72%) and free samples (60%). Middle Eastern survey takers reported the most balanced responses, giving fairly equal weight across all influencers. They were, however, least influenced by the product’s promise (36%) and most by their preferred brand (63%).

Channel Choices
Far and away, supermarkets were the format of choice for 60% of global respondents, with the drugstore/chemist/pharmacy a distant second destination at 39%, specialty stores in third place at 33% and the Internet trailing at 22%.

Asia Pacific shoppers scored the highest of any region (33%) to say they shop the Internet for health and beauty products—more than double Europeans (15%), Latin Americans (14%), North Americans (11%) and Middle Easterners (9%). Specialty stores were the destination of choice for 40% of Latin American and Asia Pacific shoppers and 95% of Middle Eastern shoppers say they buy health and beauty products from just two channels—supermarkets (56%) and drugstores (39%).

Mass vs. Premium: Looking Good Enough
A question for the ages: can mass market cosmetics successfully sell against more expensive, premium brands in such an image-intensive category tied to personal vanity and ego? Yes, although the degree of success varies by product type. Global results for hair products showed that 81% of online respondents think mass market hair products are a viable alternative, while 75% find mass market skincare products acceptable, and 72% believed mass market cosmetics were suitable.

North American respondents were the most positive about mass-market health and beauty products, viewing them as good substitutes, while Middle Eastern and Asia Pacific survey takers were the least enamored with the off-market products.

Region Round-Up
In almost all Latin American countries included in this survey, sales for personal care products reported volume increases during the latest rolling year ending June 2010 versus year ago: Chile +7.2%, Argentina +4.7%, Brazil +3.4%, Mexico +3.4% and Colombia +3.3%. Only Venezuela showed a negative trend, declining 2.5%.

In the U.S., dollar growth for the health and beauty department for the year ending July 2010 is flat (0.3%) and units have declined 2% as the economy is driving consumers to make tradeoffs and buy less. However, sales in the June and July 2010 period are improving as retailers are raising prices to enhance margins. In Canada, rising prices have fueled an increase in health and beauty (excluding baby and OTC) dollar sales of 3.2%, which outpaced the total market (+2.6%) while units were flat.

In Asia, consumers started to switch back into purchasing personal care, healthy and more premium products in the second half of 2009. This trend is expected to continue with the improving consumer confidence in the region.

The never-ending quest for beauty and perfection bodes well for the H&B sector. In countries that have emerged from the recession with vigor, the sector is likely to thrive. Meanwhile, in those regions where the recovery is still shaky—or in doubt altogether—health and beauty product manufacturers and retailers need to know exactly what’s important to those consumers: value for money and high quality products that enable them to look good, despite life’s pressures.

Note about online survey methodology
While online survey methodology allows for tremendous scale and global reach, it provides the perspectives on the habits of existing Internet users, not total populations. Where noted, the Nielsen Global Online Survey data is supplemented with consumption data by market.

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Overall, consumers worldwide remained cautious regarding pace and sustainability of the recovery as dollar and unit volume remain near neutral levels (in the -1% to 1% range). A summary of spending trends in 15 key countries is outlined below. The full report, State of the Global Consumer is available for download.

Longer term, with 30 of 31 countries showing positive ad spending in the in the 2nd quarter of 2010, global consumer spending may receive a boost in the back end of 2010 and 2011 as consumers remain focused on promotional activity.

Country-by-Country Consumer Scorecard

United States
Low U.S. consumer confidence is reflected in continued spending restraint as consumers continue to reduce overall shopping trips and spending even with better prices and increased promotion support. Detailed North American Review.

Canada
Consumers are still focused on value, shopping more at discount retailers and buying more on promotion. National brands are a key driver of promotions, which are currently outperforming private label. Detailed North American Review.

France & Spain
Volume and value shares are growing in the 1-4% range. In France, consumers are spending more per trip, but they are not shopping more frequently. The opposite is true in Spain where consumers are shopping more frequently (despite high unemployment rates), but not spending more per trip.

Germany & Italy
Volume and value shares are declining as shoppers are not shopping more frequently and are not spending more per trip.

United Kingdom
Volume shares are neutral, but value shares are up. Shoppers are shifting to value channels to save money.

Austria & Switzerland
Volume and value share show no significant change from three months ago. Store brands and value channels are on the decline, but retail promotions are up.

Brazil
Volume growth continues as items sold grew 4.1% in volume, with an emphasis on beverages, which grew 7.3%, followed by perishables at 6.5%.

Taiwan
Taiwan’s fast-moving consumer goods market remains positive, mainly driven by personal care categories where cosmetics are a leading department with close to 20% growth. In food and beverages, nutritional supplements outperformed the total market.

Hong Kong
Value growth is ahead of volume trends with growth being driven by non-food vs. food categories such as baby products, which continue strong sales.

India
Fast-moving consumer goods growth was revived in Q2 2010, fueled by double digit growth of food categories. Innovations in terms of smaller trial packs coupled with heavy promotions and new application products dominated the market scene. Modern trade channels dominate, which is driven by the market leaders.

China
Consumer confidence in China has now reached a high point (index=109). As such, fast-moving consumer goods sales continue to grow and accelerated consumer spending is reflected across both food and non-food categories.

• Download State of the Global Consumer.

It was the rare household that didn’t change spending habits over the last 18 months. Faced with unemployment (or even the prospect of it), higher expenses and crushing debts, consumers around the globe used a number of tactics to stretch their money further to get the most bang for the buck.

The Nielsen Company conducted an online survey in March 2010 of more than 27,000 consumers in 55 markets from Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America and the Middle East/Africa (consisting of countries from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and South Africa) to get a better sense of the steps being taken to save money in view of uncertain economic conditions.

What’s more, while recovery has taken hold in some regions (Asia Pacific and Latin America in particular), in other regions it has been tentative. Regardless, one thing remains clear: habits picked up during the recession are likely to survive even after economic recovery is in full-swing.

Value Strategies Help Savvy Consumers Save
In addition to a shift toward private label products, global online survey respondents saved money on household expenses in a number of ways, including:

• Buying items on sale (a 57% global average)
• Using coupons (40%)
• Shopping at value retailers (37%), such as supercenters and dollar stores
• Purchasing value packs (35%)
• Shopping close to home/work (25%)
• Stocking up (22%)
• Switching to cheaper health and beauty products (18%)
• Purchasing smaller packs with a lower unit price (17%)

One in 10 consumers in the online study reported no belt-tightening practices in their household.

North Americans led the world in cost-cutting strategies and adopted a host of budget-shrinking tactics. Seven in ten respondents said they bought items on sale, which is 13% more than the global average. Both Asia Pacific (46%) and North American (59%) consumers indicated they presented coupons at a checkout, outstripping the 40% global average.

In the U.S. in particular, manufacturer coupon redemption hit record highs in 2009 after years of no growth or declining growth. Meanwhile, Canadians continued to shift spending to discount or value retailers—now accounting for over one-third of total grocery sales—as their neighbors to the south have done so over the past several years.  Whether prompted by high gas prices or environmental sensitivity, North American respondents were also the most likely to say they shop in stores close to home or the office.

Value packs and stock-up shopping trips were a popular option across regions, with consumers in Middle East/Africa/Pakistan and Europeans lagging slightly behind the global benchmark. Middle East/Africa/Pakistan consumers also had the lowest incidence of using coupons (11%), shopping on promotion (42%), patronizing value retailers (21%) or stocking up to save (12%). The use of coupons as a promotion tool is not a popular marketing method in the region. Additionally, the dearth of established retailers in the Middle East and Pakistan explains the low incidence of patronage.

Roughly one-quarter of Latin (23%) and North Americans (24%) said they sacrificed beauty at the budget altar by switching to cheaper health and beauty products. Asia Pacific and Middle East/Africa/Pakistan respondents were less likely than average to say they made such a switch to save money (15%).

Cash is King; Dining In Trend Heats Up
Consumers found other ways to cope with the cash crunch as well. While 19% of the regions admitted to using credit cards more often, North America at 10% and Europe at 11% were well off that global average pace. Further supporting the belt-tightening approach, 31% of North Americans and 30% of Latin Americans said they recorded less credit card utilization versus the prior year, while only 20% of Europeans did, despite a precarious economic picture.

Foregoing credit was just one consumer coping mechanism. Based on survey findings, restaurants in some countries must be hungry for clients, as more than half of survey respondents said they ate out of the home less often than the year before. The dine-in trend was particularly strong in Latin America, North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Roughly one-fourth of residents of Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Hong Kong and India indicated that they were eating out more often than usual. Asia Pacific as a whole showed a 5% higher rate for eating out than the global average.

Dining out cutbacks appear to correlate with private label purchase patterns, with five of the top 10 “dining out less often” countries also landing on the top 10 “purchased more private label” list: Greece, Ireland, Spain, Turkey and Portugal—countries that continue to face significant economic challenges even as other parts of the world resume growth.

Note about online survey methodology
While online survey methodology allows for tremendous scale and global reach, it provides the perspectives on the habits of existing Internet users, not total populations. Where noted, the Nielsen Global Online Survey data is supplemented with consumption data by market.

Shoppers around the world took many steps to stretch their budgets during the recession such as eating at home more frequently or cutting back on vacations.  While improving economies may prompt consumers to return to restaurants or take a vacation, one trend that looks likely to remain—and perhaps even grow—is the shift to private label goods.

A 2010 global online survey conducted by The Nielsen Company reveals that 60% of consumers across 55 countries from Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America and Middle East/Africa (consisting of countries from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and South Africa), say they are stocking cupboards with more store brands as a result of the economic downturn. Across the regions, Latin America led the way at 66% and the Middle East/Africa/Pakistan area trailed at 51%.

The highest levels of private label purchase intent during the economic downturn were reported by consumers in Colombia, Spain, Portugal and Greece at 80%, 79%, 74% and 70% respectively, reflecting recessionary realities, depressed export activity and raging deficits. Meanwhile, the lowest reported drift toward private label came from consumers in Sweden (70%), Thailand (62%), Hong Kong (60%) and Denmark (59%) who indicated they did not purchase more store brands during the recession.

While econometric pressures are driving many value-oriented consumer shopping decisions, it is just one factor influencing private label purchasing. A strong push from retailers and improvements in both quality and selection are contributing factors. It should also be noted that not all private label categories are alike. Store brand share varies widely by category and they still represent the minority stake when compared to premium brands.

Store brand share is typically strongest in commodity categories like milk, fresh eggs, rice, edible oil, vinegar and sugar/substitutes or in those with little differentiation (first aid and wrapping materials). Store brand share is usually the lowest among categories where there is strong marketing support for top brands (e.g., candy, gum, beer) and those where a high-level of innovation occurs (e.g., detergents, deodorant, cosmetics).

Staying Power
Fully 88% of shoppers globally said they intend to keep buying private label even after the economy improves, suggesting that store brand quality has reached parity with national brands and delivers on consumer expectations. While Latin American and Middle East/Africa levels were slightly less than the global average at 83% and 79% respectively, the overwhelming majority still intended to pursue a value strategy.

Countries with the most value-conscious consumers on the private label dimension included Austria, Germany and Sweden, all registering a better than 95% intent to continue purchasing private label, while more than one-quarter of shoppers in the Ukraine (31%), Pakistan (28%), the United Arab Emirates (27%) and Venezuela (27%) had no intention to buy private label in the future.

The economic downturn prompted many consumers to try private label goods for the first time, and once they did so, they discovered that not only was the pricing right, but the quality of the goods met or exceeded expectations. Regardless of the pace of economic recovery, retailers continue to have a tremendous opportunity to convert shoppers to private label for the long term.

Regional Round-Up

Asia Pacific
In most Asian markets, private label is still relatively undeveloped with only Hong Kong having a share above 5% overall. There has been significant investment by many leading retail chains into launching new private label products over the last five years and they are gaining acceptance particularly in the basic commodity categories. In these categories, such as cooking oil, rice, bathroom tissue, market shares can reach up to between 20% and 30% in some countries.

Asian consumers are still largely brand loyal and retailers will need to increase their private label marketing support to build consumer trust in their own brands. During the economic downturn in 2009, there was strong private label growth in many countries. For example, in Thailand, private label grew by over 25%, as shoppers increasingly looked for value when buying grocery products.

In the Pacific markets of Australia and New Zealand, private label is much more established with the majority of households regularly purchasing private label products, which account for up to one-quarter of all supermarket sales.

Latin America
Private label continues to have a stable presence in the region. In Chile, store brands represent 8.4% of the market as of April 2010. Market share remained relatively flat in Argentina and Mexico, reporting shares of 7.6% and 6.6% respectively during the rolling year ending April 2010. While Mexico’s private label market share was flat, sales grew 23% compared with the previous period (April 2009). Store brands in Brazil have 4.9% of importance (YTD April 2010).

The categories where private label market share are strongest varies dramatically by country. In Argentina, the top five categories are dominated by foods such as fish, pasta, ice cream and vegetables, while in Chile, four out of the top five are non-food categories (clothes hooks, candles, pots/pans and cotton swabs). In Mexico, sugar and pies hold the greatest market share, but disposable plates, glasses and place settings round out the top five.

Europe
Private label continues to show solid performance in most European nations, with Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany leading the way reporting 2009 store brand value shares of 46%, 43% and 32% respectively. While year-over-year growth was relatively flat or minimal, Turkey and Spain boasted the biggest year-over-year increases of 2.7% and 2.5% respectively.

North America
Private label has taken off in the U.S. For year ending July 2010, store brand unit sales reached an average 22% share across all departments, with share gains in all but dairy. Store brand unit shares range from a high of 40% in the dairy department to a low of less than 1% in alcoholic beverages.

In Canada, private label represented $11.4 billion in national sales for year ending July 2010, which is 18.3% of overall consumer packaged goods spend. Over the past year, private label share has declined slightly with overall dollar sales flat, while the total market increased +3%.

Middle East
Middle Eastern consumption patterns often run counter to the West for a variety of reasons, and respondents in the region indicated the least likelihood of purchasing private label today or after economic recovery. However, as awareness has increased over the last few years, volume is growing—albeit from a very small base. While only 18% of shoppers in the United Arab Emirates perceive private label as a better value for the money, certain categories such as household cleaners are regarded more favorably. Fully, one-fourth (26%) of shoppers in Saudi Arabia consider these store brands as worthy.

Note about online survey methodology
While online survey methodology allows for tremendous scale and global reach, it provides the perspectives on the habits of existing Internet users, not total populations. Where noted, the Nielsen Global Online Survey data is supplemented with measurement of private label consumption by market.

“The effects of the global financial crisis have certainly caught up with the ad sector in this latest quarter, especially in North America and Europe where virtually all of the territories we reported on recorded negative growth,” said Ben van der Werf, managing director, Global AdView at Nielsen.  “Even China, which usually sees a boost in ad spend during the Chinese New Year, posted subdued growth for the quarter.”

All four major media types – newspapers, magazines, TV and radio – posted drops in ad spending, with print media leading the decline.  Magazines fared the worst (-17.4%) followed by newspapers (-9.1%).   In North America, magazine ad spend was down 22.2 percent, while newspapers were off 15.6 percent.

Not surprisingly, the automotive category recorded the largest loss in ad spend – down 19.9 percent – followed by financial services (-16.7%) and clothing (-15.7%).

Read the full Global Ad Spend press release.