• by Wayne Friedman , September 28, 2012

Global advertising spend picked up still sluggish single-digit growth in the second quarter, with Europe remaining the only region to go lower.

Worldwide advertising spending was up 2.4% to $139 billion in the second quarter of 2012, according to Nielsen's Global AdView Pulse. The Mideast and Africa grew the most -- 19.6% compared to the second quarter of 2011 -- while Latin America saw its advertising spend increase 4.9%.

Europe dropped 3.8% with Greece, The Netherlands and Portugal losing ground more than other territories. But the United Kingdom, Turkey and Norway saw growth.

Asia-Pacific followed overall worldwide growth, up 2.9% -- with big gains in the Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong. Moving in the other direction in the region were South Korea and Australia.

In North America, ad spending also followed global trends -- up 2.4%, with Canada sinking 2%. Latin America almost doubled the pace of global spending, up 4.9% despite decreased spending in Mexico.

Nielsen says June saw the most growth of the quarter, at 3.1%. Total global ad spend for the first half of 2012 was $266 billion. Nielsen Global AdView Pulse measures ad spending for TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, cinema and Internet display advertising.

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