Study: Online overtaking print in ad, readership races
Now it is up to smaller marketers to jump on-board.
According to a report from Interpublic’s Magna Global online advertising will be the second largest ad medium – behind only television – by 2013. The report indicates that the global online ad spend will reach $100 billion by 2013 and jump to $103 billion by 2015. That is an average annual growth rate of just over 5%.
“Newspapers will continue to grow modestly – up 1.8% in constant currency terms over the next five years,” was written in the report. “In many countries, newspapers represent a viable means of distributing content to emerging consumer classes and do not face meaningful cannibalization from online competition.”
Television’s ad share will be slightly lower in European countries but the biggest hits are expected to be delivered within the magazine publishing ranks. Through 2015, the report indicates that magazine ad dollars will shrink by at least 1.5%.
Here is how comScore shows the print/online battle shaping up:
• 57% of the US online audience visited a newspaper site in May
• The New York Times brand led with 32 million unique viewers
• Tribune branded newspapers saw 24.7 million unique viewers
• Advance Internet saw 18 million
• USA Today sites saw 16.7 million
The New York Times led with pages viewed, as well, with the average user viewing 22 pages. This is an indicator that although print circulation is down consumers are still consuming content from their favorite publications – they are simply doing it in another way.
“The Internet has become an essential channel in the way the majority of Americans consume news content today with nearly three out of five Internet users reading newspapers once each month,” said Jeff Hackett, comScore senior vice president. “As news evolves towards a more digital model, the issue is not attracting the eyeballs, but rather demonstrating the true value of those eyeballs to advertisers. As advertising rates for digital move closer into line with those of traditional media, the economics of the news business should begin to look a lot more promising.”
