Advertising Age's recently released study of the top 100 advertisers in the U.S. market shows the continuation of a couple of trends. The telecommunications wars are in full swing. Pharmaceuticals have found a lucrative market in advertising directly to consumers. It takes more and more money to sell a car.

The top spenders --

1. The Procter & Gamble Company. (NYSE: PG)-- $4.90 billion, up 6.8% from 2005
2. AT&T (NYSE: T) -- $4.34 billion, up 26%
3. General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) -- $3.30 billion, down 20%
4. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) –- $3.09 billion, down 12.2%
5. Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VZ) -- $2.81 billion, up 13.7%
6. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) -- $2.58 billion, down 1.3%
7. GalaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK ) -- $2.44 billion, up 8.6%
8. The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) -- $2.32 billion, up 1.2%
9. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) -- $2.29 billion, down 14.2%
10. Unilever (NYSE: UL) -- $2.10 billion, up 8%

In the auto sector, the big spenders were-
3. General Motors, $3.30 billion
6. Ford Motor Co. -- $2.58 billion
11. Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) -- $2.00 billion
13. DaimlerChysler -- (NYSE: DCX) -- $1.95 billion
21. Honda Motor Co. -- (NYSE: HMC) -- $1.35 billion
23. Nissan Motor Co. --(NASDAQ: NSANY) -- $1.33 billion
54. Hyundai Motor Co. -- (OTC: HYMTF) $785 million
86. Volkswagen -- (OTC: VLKAY) $419 million

Among the surprises I found in the listing was number 29 on the list, with $1.13 billion spent on advertising. The company? The U.S. government.

Also see 2006 advertising recap, part I- follow the money