Big media rings up sales as advertisers keep coming

US media giants are set to report quarterly revenue gains on the back of a booming advertising market that shows little sign of retreating. Thanks largely to the strongest advertising spending in years, investors have flocked to media stocks, which have far outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 this year.

Among the big gainers, CBS Corp is up 44 percent, Viacom Inc is up 22 percent and Time Warner Inc has climbed 9 percent. Industry analysts and investors see more healthy quarters ahead despite questions surrounding the overall U.S. economy. Advertising typically accounts for 30 to 70 percent of sales for major players such as Walt Disney Co, CBS and Time Warner -- companies that report quarterly results over the next two weeks. Projected revenue increases vary by company, with CBS set to gain 7 percent, Time Warner 7 percent and Disney 4.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.