NEWSPAPERS' SHARE OF ADVERTISING DECREASES

By: Lucia Moses Exclusive E&P/CMR Report On Top Brand Advertisers


Despite heavy print spending by advertisers in several categories
last year, newspapers lost some of their market-share gains of
1999, as ads related to the 2000 elections and Olympics in
broadcast media drove down newspapers' relative portion of
dollars.

Last year, the top 100 brand advertisers in newspapers increased
their newspaper ad spending 6.8%, to $6.4 billion, over 1999, but
newspapers' share slipped to 56.3% from 56.8%, according to an
exclusive E&P/Competitive Media Reporting (CMR) study.

Similarly, total newspaper ad spending by all companies rose
7.2%, to $23.9 billion, but newspapers' share declined to 24.2%
from 25.4%. TV got $4 billion from the top 100 brand advertisers
in newspapers, an 8.2% gain, as its share rose slightly to 35.8%
from 35.7%. Radio's ad dollars swelled 16.6%, to $355.8 million,
as its share rose to 3.1% from 2.9%.

At newspapers, the biggest dollar gains came from
telecommunications, auto, computer, and entertainment brands.
Sprint Cellular Phone Services, for example, pulled money from
TV, while pumping $116.6 million into newspapers, up from $10.8
million in 1999, jumping to the 13th spot from the 211th among
top brand advertisers in newspapers.

The emphasis on print by high-tech brands was exceptional last
year, but the current slump is wiping out many of the gains in
the category this year, says Chuck Paul, major accounts manager
and director of newspaper client services for New York-based CMR.
For this reason -- plus the ongoing decline in newspapers' retail
advertising base -- CMR forecasts newspapers' share of
advertising to drop further, to between 22.7% and 23.2% in 2001.

Macy's, which remained the top newspaper brand advertiser in
2000, increased its newspaper spending by 8.9%, to $366.4
million, even as newspapers' share of its business shrunk to
87.3% from 88%. But other top big retailers such as Sears,
Roebuck and Co., J.C. Penney Co. Inc., and Circuit City Stores
Inc. decreased their newspaper spending from 1999 to 2000 not
only in terms of share but in dollar amounts, a sign of
newspapers' ongoing challenges in the retail category.

In line with top brand advertiser spending last year, the top 100
parent company advertisers also shifted share from newspapers to
TV and radio, despite an increase in the dollars spent in
newspapers.

General Motors Corp., after a dramatic increase in newspaper
spending that propelled it to the No. 1 newspaper advertiser spot
in 1999, slipped to No. 4 last year. Newspapers' share of GM's
spending fell to 13% from 21% in 1999. TV's share rose to 68.1%
from 60.7% over the same period. This year, however, GM has a new
ad strategy that is likely to fuel more newspaper ad spending,
says spokeswoman Margaret Holmes. GM is shifting dollars and
share from national media to match local dealer money that will
go primarily into call-to-action advertising in local media,
including newspapers.



Lucia Moses (lmoses@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor covering business for E&P.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.