A Nielsen study shows first quarter ad spending in the United States has dropped by 12 percent from last year, Media Post reported. The approximate total drop adds up to a difference of $3.8 billion.

Of the media studied, Spanish and English-language cabel television was the least affected by the decline in advertiser spending, while Sunday editions of newspapers saw a staggering 37.7 percent drop in ad revenue, with national newspapers suffering a 27.7 percent decline.

Annie Touliatos, vice president of sales development for the Monitor-Plus department at Nielsen said the results "will hardly come as a surprise to an advertising industry that's struggling just like many other areas of the American economy."