Companies seen spending less on advertising

MANILA, Philippines - Companies are expected to spend less on advertising for the rest of the year to cut expenses amid rising commodity prices and the anticipated economic slowdown, Nielsen Media Research said. "If the trend doesn't change, we feel that advertising expenditure may soften. We are already seeing flat growth," said Nielsen Executive Director Jay G. Bautista. Mr. Bautista said, however, that media spending from January to June climbed 15 percent to P79.76 billion from P69.32 billion in the same months last year. Television cornered 76 percent of the media spending in the first half, followed by radio at 17 percent, and print at seven percent. The top TV advertisers in the first half include Unilever Philippines with P9.04 billion; Procter & Gamble, P4.7 billion; Nestlé, P4.6 billion; United Laboratories, P4.5 billion; Colgate-Palmolive Phils. Inc., P4.1 billion. Firms spent P17.45 billion for personal care products advertising, P11.02 billion for food items, P10.21 billion for pharmaceuticals products and P9.13 billion for beverages. Neilsen said ad spending data are based on published rate cards, and may not reflect actual spending done by companies. GMANews.TV