Now, here’s a fact everyone knows: newspapers have suffered – badly – as ad spending migrates from print to digital in the internet age. However, what everyone might not yet know is that this may no longer be true.
New figures compiled by the Advertising Association and Warc show digital income amongst the UK’s newspapers surging, driving national newspaper advertising revenue safely into growth territory for only the second time since 2007.
Next year, national newspapers are on course to attract £1.42 million in ad spending, representing year-on-year growth of one per cent. That may not seem like a lot, but given that ad revenue has been in free-fall for much of the time since 2007, it’s certainly significant.
Digital ad spend on national newspaper properties is projected to leap by 19.5 per cent this year to £220m and by an even more vigorous 22.8 per cent in 2015, taking the total to £270m. And the UK’s magazine market is also benefitting: according to the AA/Warc report, it’s set to see a return to growth for the first time since 2010 next year, with ad revenues up by 0.1 per cent.
Again, in the context of years of free-fall, this is a significant bucking of the trend, and it’s been fuelled by steadily climbing digital ad spend on magazine brands: this year, it will grow by 6.9 per cent to £269m and next year by 31.3 per cent to £295m.
By ensuring that digital content complements print content, it would seem, the print media industry has capitalised on the advertising power of the digital medium. Overall, the UK ad market expanded by 8.5 per cent in Q2 this year, the fastest rate since 2010, and total ad spend climbed by 6.3 per cent over the first six months of 2014.
Meanwhile, video-on-demand advertising on services like 4oD, ITV Player and Demand Five is also growing bullishly, with revenue set to hit £160m this year (a rise of 27 per cent), and £210m next year (a 31.3 per cent rise).
Welcoming the trends, Advertising Association CEO Tim Lefroy said: “Growth at twice the rate of UK GDP is quite a headline, but the real story is of digital and creative leadership in e-commerce. As the Eurozone wobbles, it’s a reminder that our consumer economy is central to the UK’s economic narrative.
