Top Advertisers to Spend Less on TV: The money has gone to "all other media," Larry Light, the [McDonald's] global chief marketing officer, told reporters at an advertising conference on Wednesday. "It's a little here, a little there. Cable has been a big beneficiary."
"We're asking media to come to us with creative ideas," he said. "Just like the (advertising) agencies compete, why don't media compete?"
Light's remarks are a sobering note to the television industry as it wraps up negotiations for advance commitments from advertisers for the 2004-05 broadcast season. Networks have reaped an estimated $9 billion in upfront advertising commitments, down from a record $9.3 billion last year, as viewers migrate to cable channels, the Web and other media. [...]
TNS/CMR on Wednesday forecast U.S. network TV spending will rise 9.8 percent in 2004, versus nearly 16 percent growth for Internet advertising and a 9.9 percent increase for cable.
