The Nielsen Company’s latest ad spend figures for 2007 confirms the findings of ZenithOptimedia, TNS Media Intelligence and eMarketer in the past month: total ad growth was essentially flat at 0.6 percent, but online revenues remained more than healthy, dominating all other spending categories. Online was up 18.9 percent last year, way ahead of the next six categories:  national magazines (7.6 percent), outdoor (7.2 percent), national supplements (Sundays) (4.9 percent), national cable TV (2.2 percent), and Spanish-language TV (1.5 percent). Meanwhile, network TV and magazines were both down, 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. National newspapers declined 7.7 percent, while local newspapers fell 7.5 percent as well.

Despite online’s continued health given the economy’s hit to other media categories, to get some perspective how much the space’s growth rate has slowed, consider that last year, Nielsen said internet ads gained 35 percent in 2006 as the total ad market grew a slight 4.6 percent. Release

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