Is the drop in ad revenue at Northcliffe a sign of the times?
I note that Northcliffe has announced a 7% drop in advertising revenue this week, mainly put down to economic conditions. Northcliffe owns the Bristol Evening Post, Western Daily Press, Bristol Observer, Venue and Folio locally.
A company statement said: “All major categories fell with property down 25pc, recruitment down 10pc, retail down by 9pc – adversely affected by the earlier timing of Easter this year – and motors down by 7pc.”
But is this a part of a downward trend? There has been a decline in newspapers across the UK? Indeed, in the USA over the last 10 years the number of journalism jobs has seen a decline of 25%.
This compounds the fact that this year online advertising is set to increase to £3.56bn in 2008, accounting for over 19% of all ad spend, which means that it will overtake TV advertising (this is expected to fall 2.5% to £3.39bn.) I have to ask is the decline in Northcliffe’s ad revenue all down to the economy?
Author Matt Anderson
