Archive for the ‘Advertising’ Category

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Targeted ads to pace 2011 growth online

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Online ad spending should grow by 14 percent next year, with targeted display ads, social media and video streaming leading the way, says a new projection by Borrell Associates.

Total online spending should amount to $51.9 billion next year, according to Editor & Publisher’s reading of the study.

“The big driver will be targeted display (such as banner ads) advertising, which we expect to grow almost 60 percent in 2011, reaching $10.9 billion for national and local combined,” the memo says. Streaming video, now in reach of even the smallest advertisers, should also grow by 60 percent.

Run-of-site display advertising, which Borrell says is less productive, is expected to decline 14 percent next year to $8.2 billion in local and national spending. National paid search ads will also fall by double digits in 2011, the firm says.

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McClatchy shows ‘hope’ despite 83% revenue fall

Friday, July 30th, 2010

So, this is good news these days? “Despite an 83 percent drop in net income, the results announced Thursday offered at least one sign of hope: McClatchy’s ad revenue, its lifeblood, fell by its lowest rate in more than three years.”

The report by the AP’s Mike Liedtke says McClatchy’s 8 percent fall in ad revenue is the best performance since a 5 percent decline in the first quarter of 2007. But, as he also points out, today’s year-to-year comparisons are against poor performances. That’s 8 percent less than a number that was bad to begin with.

Net income for the quarter was $7.3 million, down from $42.2 million a year ago. Total revenue fell 6 percent to $342 million, the AP says.

The company is blaming the earnings plunge on “higher interest costs as we extended debt maturities,” according to the Sacramento Business Journal’s report.  Interest payments for the quarter were up 44 percent to $49 million compared to $34 million at the same time last year after restructuring in February that extended repayment to 2017.

McClatchy was struggling with a debt of $1.8 billion as of the end of June, the SBJ says.

The company also sold about 200,000, or 8 percent, fewer copies of its weekday newspapers this past quarter, though higher prices eased that hit a little.

McClatchy management projects a 4 to 6 percent revenue decline year-to-year for the coming third quarter.

“While the economic recovery hasn’t been robust or smooth, we believe it is beginning to spread across the markets we serve,” CEO Gary Pruitt said, according to the AP report.

Employment advertising, half of which is online these days, was up 1.5 percent in May, marking the first month of growth in employment advertising revenue in four years, the SBJ says. Employment advertising rose 0.8 percent in June.

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Magazines ad sales on the rebound

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

CNBC says monthly ad sales for August magazines jumped 10 percent, which is the first month of 10 percent year-over-year growth in nearly six years.

“Though the percentage increase is certainly off some weak numbers last year, it does indicate that the weak industry is stabilizing,” the cable channel says.

Crains says that luxury magazines are also making a slow comeback, pointing to Vogue, which will show a spike of 100 advertising pages, or 23 percent over a year ago, for September.

“But even 23 percent growth for the September issue — in which designers and fashion companies display their next season’s lineups — barely puts Vogue back in the league it was in a few years ago,” Crains says of the Conde Nast title.

This year’s number translate into 529 ad pages, while Vogue’s September 2007 issue had a record 727 ad pages — and weighed in at four pounds, nine ounces.

But, the New York Post points out that Vogue still can’t touch InStyle.  “InStyle, one of the few to have a good September a year ago, was up 56 pages and 16 percent with 403 ad pages,” the Post says.

“Since January, however, InStyle, Publisher Connie Anne Phillips has sold 1,791 ad pages, up by 306 pages, or 21 percent, from a year earlier.”

Elle sold 57.2 more ad pages for September 2010 compared to 2009, and is up 10 percent year-to-date, “the slowest of any of the major fashion titles,” according to the Post. Harper’s Bazaar sold 31.8 more ad pages this September compared to last, and is up 13 percent for the year.

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Gannett joins Yahoo! newspaper ad group

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Gannett announced Friday that it would begin selling  targeted display ads to run on Yahoo! and sites for its 81 newspapers and seven of its broadcast stations nationwide.

The deal adds Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, to an advertising consortium that includes more than 800 members, according to Online Media Daily. McClatchy newspapers, the third-largest publisher, was one of the first members of the consortium, formed in November 2006.

Like other publishers in the deal, Gannett may also provide local content for Yahoo! properties in the U.S., including the Yahoo! homepage.

“To date, the consortium has sold more than 40,000 ad campaigns onto Yahoo! totaling more than $100 million in sales to date, according to Lem Lloyd, vice president of channel sales at Yahoo!,” says Online Media Daily.

Yahoo’s publishing platform enables “local newspapers to target consumers according to geographic, demographic and behavioral factors in ads that appear on Yahoo! properties from mail to sports to news.”

Yahoo!, which at the time was being run by former Knight Ridder executives, said at the launch of the program that it was teaming with newspapers because they already had local advertising staffs.

Local advertising accounts for about half of the $245 billion in total U.S. ad spending, Online Media Daily says.

Gannett announced in May that it would begin to sell online marketing services, another program adopted earlier by McClatchy. GannettLocal offers search engine marketing, e-mail, digital display, website and geo-targeted print/flyers.

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USAT jumps shark with full-paper wrap

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

At least USA Today had a more-or-less straight-forward explanation for its 1A ad that wrapped the whole paper on Monday:

“Lee Jones, evp, advertising, USAT, said that in the past, concerns about editorial integrity, production and circulation deterred USAT from selling ads that wrapped the paper, but that market demand and quality of the ad allayed those worries,” MediaWeek reported.

As to “editorial integrity” versus “market demand,”  the  wrap promoting Jeep’s 2011 Grand Cherokee will bring in $1 million in a deal that includes presence on the newspaper’s iPad app and Web site.

The ad marked the first time the Gannett flagship had wrapped its news section with an ad. The wrap completely obscured the paper as shown through the window of outdoor racks, MediaWeek said.

USAT wrapped its Life section with a Verizon ad July 1 and recently introduced other front-page ads that do not obscure editorial.

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Condé Nast lowers ethics bar for online staff

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Condé Nast has found a hole in the wall separating editorial from advertising, and will have its online staff produce a six-page advertorial supplement to run in several of its magazines.

The ad supplement will promote Samsung and run for eight months across Wired, Bon Appétit, Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest and GQ.

Having the online staff produce the supplement was seen as a way  “to avoid ruffling the feathers of print editors, who are seen as more sensitive than their Web counterparts to being asked to serve up content on a directive from the advertiser,” MediaWeek says.

“Condé Nast insisted that editors and writers had free reign to select and reject content for the Samsung insert,” Paid Content says in its report.

Condé Nast did the same thing a few years ago for a section promoting Microsoft.

“Advertisers like advertorials when they contain original edit, because they can direct the theme if not the actual content, ensuring it’s relevant to their message,” MediaWeek says. “Meanwhile, the publication technically is abiding by American Society of Magazine Editors rules because it has the final say over the edit content.”

As best we can tell, MediaWeek means Condé Nast is abiding by the rule, technically, that says: “In order for a publication’s chief editor to be able to monitor compliance with these guidelines, every effort must be made to show all advertising pages, sections and their placement to the editor far enough in advance to allow for necessary changes.” But not necessarily: “A magazine’s editorial staff members should not be involved in producing advertising in that magazine.”

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McClatchy signs for exclusive Groupon deals

Friday, July 9th, 2010

McClatchy newspaper websites will begin presenting exclusive daily deals on local goods, services and cultural events through the Groupon shopping website, Editor & Publisher reported recently.

The Sacramento and Kansas City sites will get them first, and the program will roll out to the rest of the chain over the next few months.

“The agreement provides a key component in McClatchy’s local marketplace initiative designed to bring together consumers looking for bargains and merchants seeking increased sales,” E&P says.

“For Groupon, the agreement is part of a larger initiative to offer a new, incremental revenue stream to major publishers.”

Groupon negotiates discounted deals with local businesses, and then sends free e-mail alerts to subscribers. Deals are activated if a minimum number of people agree to buy, which encourages subscribers to share the promotion with others via social media tools.

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High-def video ads a can’t-miss approach

Monday, June 28th, 2010

The next-generation of advertising online “will let advertisers serve up high-definition, streaming video in real time,” says Mediaweek, and it will be more intrusive than ever.

Hearst Magazines is launching them with a video for Gillette’s Venus Bikini Kit that includes a lifestyle expert providing bathing suit-selection and grooming tips along with mentions of the product and click-to-buy opportunities.

The ads are meant to look more like editorial content than advertising, Mediaweek says.

This fall, Hearst will launch large-format fixed-panel and pushdown ads integrated with editorial content. The entire package will be sharable via Facebook, giving advertisers more potential exposure for their message.

Hearst says the high-def ads get a high response in surveys and, as Mediaweek puts it, “It doesn’t hurt that they bring in 20-30 percent more than standard Web ads.”

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Gay press saw more spending, better prices in ‘09

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

The nation’s gay press fared well in 2009, scoring a 13.6 increase in ad spending, which Media Daily News calls “a remarkable performance, especially considering the adverse conditions in the economy at large.”

The numbers indicating a record year for publications serving lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered people come from the 2009 Gay Press Report by Rivendell Media.

In comparison, the Publishers Information Bureau says overall consumer magazine ad spending fell 17.5 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, and total ad pages were down 25.6 percent.

The number of ads in LGBT publications actually fell by 6.8 percent, the MDN report says, “reflecting a trend toward larger, more expensive ad placements. It may also reflect an increase in prices for LGBT advertising, as niche media leverage their special connection with LGBT consumers to demand more premium rates.”

But there was also a drop in overall circulation for LGBT media, down 27.6 percent from roughly 3.3 million in 2008 to 2,387,750 in 2009.

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Newspaper ads up online, continue to fail in print

Friday, May 28th, 2010

The Newspaper Association of America said Thursday that U.S. newspapers saw a gain in online advertising sales in the first quarter of this year that represents the first growth since the same period in 2008. But print advertising, which is where newspapers really make their money, continued to fall.

Online ad sales rose 4.9 percent in the quarter to $730.4 million, well shy of the $2.96 billion newspapers earned through their largest advertising segment, retail — or display — advertising.

Revenue from printed retail advertising fell 11 percent in the quarter, according to a Bloomberg report, which compares well to a 24 percent drop in the same period a year earlier. Classified advertising fell 14 percent to $1.25 billion, and national ads fell 8.3 percent to $1.04 billion.

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