Print advertising takes the hit as advertisers cut back

As the economy slows and businesses look to make cost savings, its interesting to see where they look to cut back. The amount spent on advertising looks particularly vulnerable to some cuts…

News last week from the business that owns the Daily Mail, Evening Standard and many other publications suggests that business spending on print-based advertising targeted at consumers is falling.

For example, property-related advertising at the Daily Mail Group is down 36% in the year to June 2008. Advertising spending on recruitment, retailing and motor vehicles is also falling.

The good news for Daily Mail Group is that the business is diversified - both in terms of market sectors and media channels. So its online advertising revenues are growing (online newspaper readership is rising fast). Also, its business-to-business (trade) publications have not experienced a substantial drop in advertising revenues (yet).

The newspaper industry has been a tough market in which to earn profits in recent years, despite generally favourable economic conditions. The economic slowdown is likely to make things particularly tough.