We've heard a lot about the auto industry and how bad things are. Yet right under our noses, U.S. media advertising lost $10 billion in the first half of this year.
We all know that newspapers are hurting badly. But it's not only newspapers, the losses fall across the advertising spectrum. Let's look at some numbers:
- Nielsen reports a 15.4% decline in U.S. advertising revenues. This is the largest drop since this tally began.
- "Spot" advertising fell 17.4% in the top 100 markets and 32.1% in the 110 largest markets.
- Newspapers have been the weakest segment of the ad market. Local and national newspaper ads fell 13.2% and 22.8% respectively.
- Sunday supplement ads dropped 22.4% nationally and 45.7% locally.
- Magazines ads fell 21.2% for national titles and 25.4% for local brands.
- As you probably guessed, the auto segment made the biggest cuts in advertising, down 31.4%.
There was a bright spot however. Television-direct "infomercials" increased spending by 6.7% to $1.26 billion. These ads were mainly for fast foods, drugs and technological innovations. For example, ads for multi- function smart phones doubled.
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