Television ad spending jumped in the second quarter of 2013, bringing spending into positive territory for the first half of the year, based on a new study from Kantar Media.

B&C reports that spending in the second quarter was up 6.4% to $18.4 billion, based on Kantar figures. The gain boosted first-half ad spending growth to 3.3%

"The gains were caused partly because of extra NBA playoff games on both broadcast and cable, Kantar said. Also, a year ago, spending was depressed somewhat by the lead-up to the Summer Olympics, making this year’s gain appear larger," B&C reports.

The report adds that ad spending on broadcast network TV “was up 4.9% to $5.3 billion in the quarter, but remained down 0.6% for the first half of the year. Cable grew 14.9% to $6.9 billion in the quarter, bringing its gains for the half to 10.1%.”