AMSTERDAM, 01/03/07 - The gross advertising spend on products and services in the Netherlands totalled nearly 5.7 billion euros in 2006, up 3 percent from 2005. Except for general interest magazines, the gross advertising spend rose in all media types, figures released yesterday by Nielsen Media Research showed.

After the gross advertising spend on television failed to show double-digit growth for the first time in years in 2005, growth in 2006 actually fell below that of the total advertising spend, at just 1 percent. Television's market share declined by 1.2 percent as a result, with Internet, direct mail and out of home as beneficiaries.

Of all media types, the Internet booked the fastest growth, up 36 percent at 205 million euros. Direct mail was up 13 percent at over 510 million euros, and out of home, up 8 percent at 233 million. Radio booked the same growth as in 2005 (up 5 percent), ending up at nearly 477 million euros. Spending on cinema ads increased by 2 percent to 17 million euros.

For the newspapers, 2006 was the year of recovery in the gross advertising spend. In 2005, there had still been a limited decline of 2 percent, but in 2006, spending picked up by 1 percent to 768 million euros. Only general interest magazines saw a decline in the gross advertising spend last year, slipping by 2 percent to 419 million euros. News magazines, magazines for men and for young people and computer magazines fared worst.

Nothing changed in 2006 from the previous year in the Top 5 list of the biggest advertisers. Unilever Home & Personal Care (114 million euros) and Unilever Foods (100 million) stayed in the number 1 and 2 slots respectively; KPN was third with 89 million, with Procter & Gamble (77 million) and L'Oreal (59 million) fourth and fifth.