“Print advertising spending in U.S. consumer magazines is set to decline again in 2010, 2011, and 2012. After losing 21% of their print ad revenue in 2009, U.S. consumer magazines should expect print ad revenues to decrease 7% this year, 3.5% next year, and 1.1% in 2012. Print ad revenue will total $9.1 billion in 2014, down 9% from $10 billion in 2009 and $13.8 billion in 2007.” (Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers 2010)
My take is that this forecast is optimistic. Print advertising dollars have been falling faster than anticipated as people continue to abandon traditional media such print magazines and newspapers. The free fall is catastrophic for the print-based media firms since these businesses are not really in the news or entertainment business, but are actually in the advertising distribution business. News and entertainment provide the bait for the hook. Their business model is to sell and distribute advertising.
What this means to you and me is that we need to continue to adjust our advertising plans. The web will continue to be a bigger and bigger slice of the advertising pie and print will continue to shrink. We must change with it. End of story.
John Bradley Jackson
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