• by Wayne Friedman , October 20, 2015

Media spending in September rose by 6% versus the same time period a year ago, according to Standard Media Index, which tracks 80% of all U.S. media spending through national media agency billing systems.

Digital media posted a major gain -- 29% -- with ad spend for newspapers 18% higher versus September 2014. For the third quarter overall, there was an 9% improvement in the total ad market, according to SMI.

SMI says the start of the TV season in September witnessed a 4% decline year-over-year, with virtually all TV categories showing declines. Cable fell by 5%, while broadcast TV sank 4%, spot TV was down 2%, and syndication dropped 14% in the month. One improvement was seen in local/MSO cable, which grew 3%. Third-quarter TV spending was flat year-to-year.

In September, broadcast TV advertisers spent more in the scatter market versus a year ago -- up 3%. But there was a 4% decline in upfront media money. Scatter cable deals declined by 11%, with upfront deals down 4%.

Magazines were down 11% during the month, while radio was off 3% and out-of-home dropped 16%.