Ad-wise, flat finish for otherwise brisk 2014

The sluggish rate of growth for ad spending carried over from third to fourth quarter.

New numbers from Standard Media Index, a New York City company that compiles ad spending estimates based on data from agencies, show fourth quarter advertising revenue was flat to last year. Third quarter was also flat.

Total ad spending in 2014 rose 6 percent, but all of that growth came during the first half of the year, with events such as the Winter Olympics and World Cup driving increases.

During the second half of the year, nearly every traditional media saw declines.

TV took a notable hit.

Broadcast was down 2 percent, and even cable, which has been a reliable area of growth for years, slid 1.6 percent.

Only three of the six highest-rated broadcast networks saw year-to-year gains in fourth quarter. NBC sales were up 3 percent, SMI reports, and CBS was up 2 percent.

Those two networks were also No. 1 and No. 2 in adults 18-49 ratings during the fall.

Telemundo saw the biggest year-to-year growth, up 5 percent, even though it, like rival Univision, was down a tenth in 18-49s.

Spending on Univision declined by 6 percent in fourth quarter, while Fox was down the most, 12 percent. Fox also saw the biggest year-to-year ratings declines in the demo during fourth quarter, off 13 percent.

ABC, the only one of the six networks to remain steady to in the ratings in fourth quarter, was down 2 percent in ad spending.

Broadcast’s spending declines come at a time of turmoil for TV generally, but notably broadcast.

There are a slew of new competitors for people’s time, including video on smartphones and tablets, streaming services such as Netflix, and even soon-to-launch services that deliver cable and broadcast channels through a set-top box, without any satellite or cable connections.

Advertisers are flirting with these technologies as broadcast ratings slowly decline. Though TV still gets the largest share of ad spending, digital’s share is growing, and within a few years it will become the dominant media.

Digital, meanwhile, was up 15 percent in third quarter, led by huge gains from programmatic, or automated, buying.

Programmatic was up 71 percent over the same period in 2013 and 33 percent over third quarter. Indeed, each quarter last year saw double-digit percentage growth.

Of course, mobile was also hot in fourth quarter, up 17 percent over last year.

While traditional TV advertising was down, the networks’ web sites did see gains, most notably NBC.com, up 104 percent, and ESPN.com, up 70 percent.

Magazines fell 8 percent during the quarter, while newspapers were down 3 percent. However, newspapers did see slight growth for 2014 overall, up 2 percent.

The top ad category in fourth quarter was automotive, though spending was down 9 percent. Retailers, as usual, spent the most in December.

Tags: ad spending, broadcast, cable, fourth quarter ad, fourth quarter ad spending, tv