The strength of these top brands drove total U.S. media spending to $72.98 billion, up 4.1% over first-half 2005. Without the Top 200's contribution, spending behind all other brands advanced only 1.8%. 

The sleep-aid brands Lunesta and Ambien drove the pharmaceuticals category, with spending of $161.9 million and $113.8 million, slotting them as No. 37 and No. 68, respectively. 

After Ford, top spenders among autos were No. 6 Toyota, which increased its spending 11.9%, to $485.8 million, and No. 7 Chevrolet, with a media outlay of $443 million, up 1.4%. Nissan slipped to No. 11 as it decreased spending by 24.5% to $298 million.

In retail, category leader No. 10 Home Depot reduced spending by 3.4% to $306.9 million. The the second-largest retail brand, No. 15 Target, and third-largest, No. 17 Lowe's,  zoomed ahead with spending increases of 22.5% and 18.8%, respectively.

In financial services, No. 19 American Express spent $229.6 million, up 6.1%, followed closely by No. 23 Visa at $223.8 million, up 31.1%. Overall, financial-services spending rose 13.9%, bolstered by key players Capital One, Chase, TD Ameritrade and Fidelity -- brands whose spending grew a collective 52%.

The insurance category was up 25.6% to $899.5 million from eight companies. No. 22 Geico, top brand in the category, spent $223.9 million, up 28.2%. No. 30 Allstate increased spending at an even higher rate, up 47.4% to $184.4 million. New to the Top 200 is online auto-insurance marketer Esurance, which spent $62.3 million.

Indeed, internet spending continued its upward trajectory, logging $1.65 billion among the Top 200, an increase of 25.6%. The 20 retailers in the report boosted their online spending by a collective 152.3% in the first half, with No. 18 Wal-Mart, the top retail internet spender, increasing its outlay to $32.5 million from $7.2 million in first-half 2005. Target placed $28.4 million in internet, up from $8.2 million. Other categories showing significant increases in online spending were insurance, up 119.3%; automotive, up 49.7%, and food, up 43.9%. Financial services was the internet- spending category leader; its 18 brands in this report funneling $349.1 million into the medium, a 49.4% hike. The largest internet spender was online telco Vonage, No. 13, which put $126.5 million, up 3.3%, behind its brand.

The movie category, which has significant spending, is omitted from the Top 200 Brands due to the lack of continuity in spending on movie titles from year to year. Spending for Disney's "Cars" alone was $47.6 million, the top film by measured media in the first half. In fact, the top five films were lavished with more than $40 million in spending each.

The leading spender on movies, DVDs and videos was Time Warner, which injected $419.7 million into the category, while the top nine movie companies combined spent over $2 billion in first-half 2006. New releases make up the majority of this media tally, with DVD and video spending taking 18% of the total.