TNS Media Intelligence reports that the second quarter of 2007 is the first time since 2001 that ad spending declined for two consecutive quarters. Though the overall decline is only 0.3% ($190 million) compared to the first half of 2006, some industries are seeing more significant declines.

Television still holds the largest dollar share with $31.6 billion, but spot TV has lost 5.4% of ad revenue. Newspapers continue to slide, down by 5.8% to under $13 billion. The biggest decline is in the B2B magazine category. With ad dollars down by 7.2%, even the most popular titles took hits: Time, Inc. is shuttering Business 2.0, leaving Fast Company as the leader of this niche.

The Internet is growing with 17.7% more ad dollars, bringing overall Internet ad spending to $5.5 billion and outpacing radio by $379 million. In this context, Getty Images' push to capture some of the image-related spending for online display advertising with a reduction in Web-use licensing fees to $49 is not surprising.

Ad dollars captured by magazines as a category are still growing at a rate of 4.6% and accounting for $14.5 billion. Spanish-language magazines continue to outpace other titles, growing at 13.1% to $102 million. From a stock-image perspective, however, the Spanish market seems oversaturated, as specialty agencies opened as recently as last year have begun to consolidate.

TNS attributes the ad-revenue decline to the auto industry's downturn and general uncertainly about near-term economic growth and consumer spending. The spending pattern is expected to hold for the second half of the year.