This from TNS Media Intelligence: 

Total measured advertising expenditures in the first quarter of 2009 plunged 14.2% vs. a year ago, to $30.18 billion, according to data released today by TNS Media Intelligence. This plunge followed a 9.2% decline in Q408 as the advertising recession accelerated into the new year.

Ad Spending by Medium

Local media suffered most, with aggregate expenditures sinking 25.4% in Q109, TNS said. The rate of decline was similar across Spot TV (-27.5%), Local Newspapers (-25.1%) and Local Radio (-26.8%). Each of these segments was severely affected by deep spending cutbacks in core categories such as automotive, retail and local services.

For national media, combined ad spending fell 8.5% vs. a year ago. Within this segment, performance was sharply defined along the lines of print vs. TV vs. online.

National Newspapers (-28.5%), B2B Magazines (-25.5%), Consumer Magazines (-19.2%) and other print media were clustered together in terms of their percentage decreases as their revenue declines were driven by fewer ad pages, according to the data.

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