Print Advertising Expenditure

The recession ravaged the print industry, exacerbating its problems regarding falling readership as consumers looked online for news and entertainment. Due to the poor economic climate during those years, businesses had less money to spend on advertising and consumers were less willing to pay for subscriptions. In turn. falling subscription numbers made print media an even less attractive advertising option for businesses. As a result, print advertising expenditure fell 21.0% in 2009.

Print advertising has not recovered from this hit. Plummeting ad revenue, which constitutes the lion’s share of the revenue for newspapers and magazines, caused periodicals to shrink their outputs, merge and syndicate, restructure through bankruptcy or exit the industry altogether. Consequently, now on the other side of the recession, fewer newspapers and magazines remain in print, and the ones that do are much shorter than before. So, while the economy has returned to growth, and business resources that can be used on print advertising have returned, a dramatically lower amount of advertising space is available for purchase. The space remains less desirable as subscriptions have not recovered. As a result, print advertising expenditure has continued to decline in recent years.

In 2020, print advertising expenditure experienced a particularly outsized decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced advertising expenditure overall, with continued decreases into 2021. In 2022, print advertising expenditure still remained far below its pre-pandemic levels, though spending declined at a slower rate. Tempered consumer spending and stressed corporate budgets due to rising inflation has affected advertising expenditure. Following a prolonged period of high interest rates and declining interest in newspapers and magazines, declines have continued during 2023 and 2024. Overall, print advertising expenditure is expected to decline an annualized 15.0% over the five years to 2025, propelled by the continued adoption of digital technology which has shifted the habits of individuals throughout the country, who now consume media differently.