Increased spending on internet and Spanish-language TV advertising helped drive 5.1 percent growth in total U.S. ad spending in the first half of the year.

Internet ad spend in 1H06 was 49.0 percent more than in 1H05, and spending on Spanish-language TV (boosted by the World Cup) increased 21.8 percent over the year-earlier period, writes MediaPost, citing Nielsen Monitor-Plus figures. Local magazine ad spending growth was 10.4 percent, followed by national newspapers at 6.5 percent, network TV at 6.3 percent, outdoor at 6.0 percent.

Cable TV showed only a 0.4 percent gain, while network radio declined 3.5 percent. Spot TV also slowed: spending in the top-100 DMAs increased only 3.5 percent, whereas spending decreased 0.6 percent in the remaining DMAs (101-210).

Half of the top 10 advertisers reduced spending in 1H06: among them, GM's spending was down 3 percent to $1.7 billion, DaimlerChrysler's, down 13 percent to $723 million. The largest spending increase was among telcos. AT&T's spending increased 51 percent to $964 million; Verizon's was up 33 percent, to $706 million.