TV and press ad revenues predicted to fall by more than £350m
Traditional media face revenue fall.
By Joe Derry-Malone Published 03 July 2012
Group M, the media network run by Sir Martin Sorrell, has estimated a fall of £350m in revenue acquired from TV and press advertising in the UK during 2012. This general fall will come despite the profits expected from the London Olympics and Euro 2012.
The group has reviewed growth of TV ad revenues previously predicted at 3 per cent to 0.1 per cent, a drop that reduces revenues by £70m. The estimations for the newspaper ad market has seen similar revisions, now with an estimated fall in revenue of 6.3 per cent compared to 2011.
However, falls in revenue gained through traditional media are more than balanced by a boom in digital advertising, which will contribute to an increase to the overall growth forecast for the UK ad market. Overall figures given by Group M in fact demonstrate an increase on earlier predictions from 3 per cent to 3.4 per cent - £12.7bn to £13.2bn.
Internet spend has been predicted to rise by 14.2 per cent on 2011, reaching £5.35bn this year.
Group M has stressed that the UK's regional newspaper market will suffer most, revising the prediction of a 7.8 per cent fall to 11 per cent.
Adam Smith, the group's director, has explained the drops by explaining that the Olympics "have not necessarily boosted spending on commercials" as might have been expected. He did add however, that in comparison with other European markets, UK growth was "robust".
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2 comments
Whilst there may be a predicted decline in “press ad revenues” it is not all doom and gloom for what you describe as “the newspaper ad market”. The fact is, today’s national newspaper brands are multi-platform media businesses: their content is published and read not just in print, but also online and on smartphones and tablets. In fact, the rate at which people are accessing newsbrands on digital platforms is increasing faster than print readership is contracting – with the net result that the overall daily UK audience for “newsbrands” is up, from 22.6m in 2007 to 24.4m in 2012. There may be a decline in print ad revenues, but the rise in digital advertising revenues benefits newsbrands too.
Before anyone's tempted to call for bailouts for the MSM, ask a question. Why are more people turning to the Net for their entertainment and news? Maybe it's because the quality of MSM content continues to go down?
Do we really need reality shows on practically every subject imaginable?