The sector spent $84.7 million on African-American media during the year, and increase of 18% from the year before, cable TV showed significant growth – up 42% — while network TV dropped more than 70%.

Top 10 Media Types for Quick Service Restaurant Advertising

On the Wait Service side of dining, ad spend fell 4% in 2009 to $1.56 billion.  More than a quarter of that was spent on Network TV, followed by Spot and Cable TV.  “Local Newspapers” was the fourth largest category, with $124 million being spent, compared to just $14.8 million in that category for quick service restaurants.  For Wait Service Restaurants, all categories – except for cable TV – registered a decline in spending during the year.

Top Cities for Restaurants
Meanwhile, Nielsen Claritas released its annual Restaurant Growth Index (RGI) report, which found that the top city for dining out was Fort Walton Beach, Florida, which scored an RGI of 577, beating Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which claimed the top spot for the past two years.  Despite leading the pack, Fort Walton Beach’s score was well below Myrtle Beach’s scores for the previous two years (735 and 632) reflecting the economic turmoil in 2009.  The average index score among markets in the top 10 was off 40 points from the previous year.  Nationally, restaurant sales fell more than $5 billion in 2009, which translates to both diminished sales per capita and per restaurant outlet.

The RGI tends to favor markets with significant number of out-of-town visitors, such as vacation destinations and college towns.  Springfield, Illinois may be the most surprising entrant to the list, but if one considers the fact that it is a state capital with a large number of state employees, legislators and lobbyists need somewhere to eat, its inclusion makes more sense.

“Obviously, the economy has had a significant effect on the restaurant industry as money-conscious consumers cooked dinner and ate at home more frequently.  But there were a number of markets that were bucking the trend with annual sales increases during the year, notably Barnstable Town on Cape Cod, which jumped into the number eight position, and Napa, California, which climbed 20 spots to number twelve after having fallen to 32^nd place last year,” said Matt Wolff, AVP, Retail Practice Manager at Nielsen Claritas.

Read the full article from Restaurant Business magazine.

Automotive was still the largest spending product category  for Spanish-Language media ($381.7 million), despite a 40 percent cut in spending compared to the previous 12 months. Wireless Telephone Services (+4.8%), Quick Service Restaurants (+10.1%) and Direct Response Products (+18.1%) each saw an increase in Spanish-Language ad spend and fell within the top five product categories.

TOP 5 SPANISH-LANGUAGE MEDIA AD SPENDERS, PRODUCT CATEGORIES

Automotive’s African-American media budget saw a 33.5 percent plunge compared to the previous 12 months, even as it continued to top all other product categories. Quick Service Restaurants (-6.4%), Department Stores (-20.1%), Motion Pictures (-20%), and Wireless Telephone Services (-16.7%) rounded out the top five African-American ad spenders, despite each chopping their ad budgets.

TOP 5 AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEDIA AD SPENDERS, PRODUCT CATEGORIES

Download Nielsen’s full report on Multi-Cultural ad spending.

The automotive industry’s ad spending fell hardest in 2008. The industry slashed its spending by almost $1.8 billion, or 15.5%. Among the Big Three automakers, Chrysler (Cerberus Capital Management) and Ford Motor Co. cut advertising 31% and 29%, respectively. General Motors trimmed its advertising 1%.

Pharmaceuticals also cut back its spending significantly, declining 18% and almost $1 billion compared to 2007. Quick Service Restaurants, however, was the only category in the top 5 to spend more in 2008, with 3.8% more expenditures in 2008.

Cable TV was one of only two media (along with Hispanic Cable TV) whose ad spend showed growth in 2008. Its 7.8% jump in 2008 accounted for almost $2 billion in additional revenue for cable networks. Meanwhile, Network TV ad revenue declined 3.5% in 2008.

Print media continued its anticipated decline in 2008. Local and National Newspaper ad spends declined 10.2% and 9.6%, respectively. National Magazines fell 7.6%, while Local Magazines dropped 3.7%.

Procter & Gamble maintained its perch as the top advertiser this year, despite a 19% decline vs. 2007.

To see the full release from The Nielsen Company, including a media breakout and top advertising companies, click here.