Mutual fund firms spent less money on promoting themselves in 2006 than they did in 2005, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.

In the big spending days of 2005, fund firms spent a combined total of about $300 million on advertising, with the top three spenders, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity Investments and Franklin Templeton shelling out $74.7 million, $48.9 million, and $25 million respectively.

The numbers for 2006 show a cutback in total dollars allocated to ads -- combined, mutual fund firms spent $280.2 million, this includes $277.9 million on television and print ads and $2.3 million on Web site advertising. However, there was a bump in the spending of the top three firms, who were once again T. Rowe, Fidelity and Franklin.

T. Rowe upped its spending to $79.5 million and Franklin followed suit with $30.3 million. The only member of the top three that dropped off on ad spending was Fidelity, spending $33.3 million, down from the $48.9 million in 2005.

Rounding out the top ten spenders were American Century, Massachusetts Mutual Life, Morgan Stanley, Vanguard Group, Barclays ( the biggest surprise on the list as they did not even crack the top 20 in 2005), Charles Schwab and Bank of America.  

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