Rep firm Petry Television reports that national spot ad sales are pacing up between 48-54% for the third quarter. While Petry expects the pace to moderate, it nonetheless forecasts higher growth in the third quarter than the first two.
Petry TV represents more than 150 stations in their national spot buys.
The growth is driven by automotive advertisers, whose aggregate national spot ad expenditures are seen pacing up in the range of 53% to 58%. Station groups have reported giant automotive ad growth in the second quarter; Fisher Communications cited an 85% automotive boost in the quarter, while Scripps was at 84%. Those figures represent both local and national automotive advertising.
Other ad categories are strong in the third quarter too, said Petry. Packaged goods are up 36%-41%, pharmaceutical companies are at 29%-33% and financial services are up 45% to 49%. Political advertising may represent as much as 13% to 15% of total national spot spending, reports Petry.
Third quarter comps will be up against weak 2009 numbers, as the recession still had a stranglehold on the economy at that point. According to the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB), total spot TV ad sales for the third quarter of 2009 finished down 28% in top 100 TV markets.
