The Newspaper Association Of America reports that newspaper advertising expenditure for Q1 2001 will come in at around $10.4 billion, a decline of 4.3% over 2000, according to preliminary estimates.
“Obviously, it would be hard to match the incredible gains of last year, particularly in national, which registered an 18.7 percent gain in the first quarter alone,” said NAA president and CEO John F. Sturm. “As is the case with other advertising-supported media, the slowing economy effected our business in the first quarter. From what we’ve seen, the slowdown in spending, while disappointing, isn’t a big surprise.”
Real estate was the only section of classifieds to show and increase (11.6%), all other classified sectors were down. Recruitment advertising fell by 16.9% to $1.7 billion, automotive fell by 6% to $1.1 billion and other classifieds dropped by 7.9% to $512 million.
| |
Q1 2000 |
Q1 2001 |
% growth |
| National |
1.80 |
1.75 |
-2.80 |
| Retail |
4.60 |
4.60 |
0.00 |
| Classified |
4.40 |
4.00 |
-9.10 |
| Total |
10.80 |
10.40 |
-3.70 |
“We expect the overall economy to pick up in the second half of this year and that should improve the comparisons,” said NAA vice president/market and business analysis Jim Conaghan. “The bright spot this past quarter was real-estate advertising, and that reflected the fundamentally strong housing market.”
