A confluence of reports from AdAge caught our attention this week.
Compared to the first quarter of 2005, U.S. advertising expenditures rose more than five percent in Q1 2006 to nearly $35 billion. There appear to be clear winners and losers, at least in the near term.
Year-to-Year
Local newspaper advertising lost 6.1%, posting $5.6 billion
Business-to-Business magazine receipts fell nearly 2% to $1.1 billion
Local radio ad revenue slipped a little over 1% to total $1.6 billion
Network radio ads dropped 3.5% to about $217 million.
Meanwhile, online ad revenue surged by 38% year-to-year, reaching $3.9 billion in Q1 (a six percent increase over Q4 2005).
And . . . Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. killed the print edition of it’s successful Elle Girl magazine in May, putting all its eggs in the ElleGirl.com basket. The print edition grew paid subscriptions by nearly 20% last year, with ad pages growing almost 50%.
Total advertising receipts to consumer magazines grew in Q1, as did revenue to national newspapers, broadcast and cable television – just not as fast as web expenditures which have reached at least temporary parity with television broadcast advertising and is closing the gap with consumer magazines.
Hachette’s chairman-CEO positioned the shift from Elle Girl to ElleGirl.com as peculiar to the teen market saying, "Every two to three years, we have to market to a whole new group." Time will tell whether the teen market is anomalous or merely first.
