Newspaper ad spending down

Ad spending for both print newspapers and newspaper insert magazines were down for the first quarter of the year compared to the year before, with inserts seeing the largest drop of 26.7 per cent.

Ad spending for print newspapers fell by 11.6 per cent to $317.85m in Q1 2018 from $359.4m in the year before. Insert magazines dropped to $11.9m from $16.2m in the prior corresponding period (pcp). In contrast, ad spending for digital went up by 10.1 per cent, to $118.46m from $107.6m.

For the whole industry, advertising spend went down by 7.3 per cent over the quarter to $448.23m from $483.3m. The figures are according to new data from the News Media Index (NMI) and Standard Media Index (SMI),

NewsMediaWorks says Australia’s news media sector remains the third largest media sector and reported $2.02bn in advertising revenue for the 12 months to December 31, 2017. The sector achieved total revenues of $1.46bn for the nine months of the financial year-to-date.

The association says the industry’s overall decline has significantly moderated, with total news media ad spend back just 7.3 per cent in the quarter to $448.23m, well  below the latest SMI agency-only ad spend data, which showed a sector decline of 19.4 per cent.

Peter Miller, CEO of NewsMediaWorks says the findings are positive for the industry. He says, “Against a backdrop of fake news, government investigations of the social media giants and breaches of consumer privacy, advertisers are now realising what consumers have known all along. The latest News MediaIndex signals a renaissance of trusted news brands as reliable and credible sources for Australian consumers, with the month of March looking particularly strong.

“For advertisers and consumers it shows that you are what you eat. A diet of junk news may give you a quick fix, but a healthy, balanced diet of quality news and investigative journalism results in better long-term benefits.  That is why 90 per cent of the population read news media every month and the sector remains unchallenged as the most trusted media channel for content and ads. That fact is being realised in the latest News Media Index, the most accurate picture of ad spend.”

Jane Ractliffe, Standard Media Index (SMI AU/NZ) managing director says, “The sustained growth in digital media has also ensured the industry continues to lead all other media in relation to the commercialisation of its content online, with digital bookings now representing 26.6 per cent of all news media revenues in this quarter compared to 22.3 per cent in the same period last year.’’

Standard Media Index (SMI) is the global industry standard for actual ad spend data. 

 

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