MUMBAI: The ferocious growth of the digital medium notwithstanding, television continues to hold the lion’s share of ad dollars and consumers media time in the US, according to Nielsen.

Television ad spend was up 4.5 per cent in 2011 even as total ad spends increased by a mere two per cent, according to the third and final part of Nielsen’s Advertising & Audiences Report.

The total ad spend for TV reached $72 billion, more than all other ad platforms combined. The print media commanded the second biggest share of ad spends with magazines and newspapers collectively cornering $28 billion. Internet and radio garnered $6 and $7 billion respectively.

The report took an in-depth look at media consumption by platform and found that American advertisers and consumers have a huge appetite for television, as TV holds the lion’s share of ad dollars and consumers’ media time.

Spending on cable TV has increased steadily over the last few years, up 42 per cent from 2007, the report added.

Spanish-language cable and network TV saw double-digit growth in ad spend, up 24 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, from 2010.

Automotive was the largest category for advertising spend across all media, with $10.2 billion spent by automotive brands while AT&T and Verizon were the top TV spenders during 2011 for brands AT&T Wireless Web Access ($1.1 billion) and Verizon Wireless Web Access ($702.2 million).