Newspaper print advertising revenue for 2017 was down by 15 per cent on the previous year, according to the latest data for the news media industry from both News Media Index (NMI) and Standard Media Index (SMI).
While spending for print advertising shrunk in the fourth quarter last year, from $433m to $367.1m for the same period the year before, digital ad revenue increased by 8.5 per cent, from $123.3m to $133.9m. Spending for the total industry dropped from $576.8m to $519.8m, or 9.9 per cent. Digital spend from direct advertisers jumped by 31.8 per cent to $85m in the quarter.
Peter Miller, CEO of NewsMediaWorks says, “Trust has been a key issue for advertisers in 2017 and will continue to be this year, which is why we have seen brands choosing news media, particularly for their digital campaigns, because the trusted environment that our publishers offer is unmatched for both content and ads. Advertisers are assured of a brand safe environment that reaches 90 per cent of the population every month and that is a compelling proposition.
[Related: Print news readership falls]
“Direct advertisers continue to have greater confidence in the effectiveness of news media than the media agency market. The fact is that news media continues to attract highly engaged audiences who trust not only the news media content but also the ads.”
Jane Ractliffe, managing director for SMI AU/NZ says, “This quarter we have seen especially strong growth from the direct advertiser market into national print titles, with the total spend from those advertisers growing 13.5 per cent from the same quarter a year ago.
“And the fact that in the past year direct ad spend has only dropped back 4 per cent across all news media publishing platforms shows how engaged these advertisers are with brand-friendly news media.’’
News media advertising revenue hit an annual high in the fourth quarter at $519.8m, which News Media Works says was bolstered by adverts for the QLD election and the marriage equality plebiscite.
In August last year, newspapers saw a 32.7 per cent drop in print advertising revenue compared to the previous year and magazine ad revenue was also down by 28.5 per cent.
The monthly SMI data reports agency only revenue, while the quarterly NMI details all print and digital ad revenue to Australia’s largest news media publishers from both agencies and direct advertisers.
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