Nielsen: Q1 Ad Spend Takes Dive

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/media-agencies-research/e3i6c932f87e11ed33abf63b6748c54b23a
The entire advertising and media universe knew the first quarter was brutal; now the Nielsen Co. has crunched the numbers to prove it. Overall U.S. advertising expenditures fell 12 percent to $27.9 billion in Q1, compared to the first three months of 2008, according to Nielsen. Not surprisingly, three of the worst ad performers came from the beleaguered newspaper business. Local Sunday supplements lead all decliners with a drop of 37.7 percent ($12.1 million), followed by business-to-business magazines (-29.9 percent, to $633.2 million), national newspapers (-27.7 percent, to $286.5 million) and national Sunday supplements (-25.9 percent, to $211.7 million).