New York - While overall U.S. ad spending fell 0.3% during the first half of 2007, compared with the same period a year ago, the Internet advertising sector led all others with a 17.7% increase, to $5.5 billion, according to a report from TNS Media Intelligence.

Watertown, Mass. - TNS Media Intelligence, a privately held, New York-based provider of strategic advertising information, has acquired Cymfony, a Massachusetts-based provider of market influence analytics technology. Financial terms were not disclosed. TNS said that the acquisition integrates Cymfony's expertise in tracking and analyzing the intersection of traditional and social media, such as blogs and social networks, with TNS's current line of advertising intelligence products. Cymfony was founded in 1996.