| Newspapers continued to see impressive growth
in 1998. The Competitive Media Index showed that readership remained
steady, while advertising spending finished the year up 6.3% over
1997. Coupled with circulation spending, newspapers became a $54
billion industry. |
 |
Nearly six in 10 (57.9%) of adults in the top
50 U.S. markets read a daily newspaper, and another 10% (67.8%)
read one on Sunday, according to the spring 1999 Competitve Media
Index. |
|
The FAS-FAX report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations
showed that seven of the top 12 circulation newspapers reported
gains for the six-month perioad ending Sept. 30, 1998. |
|
Newspaper advertising expenditures in 1998 totaled
$43.9 billion, and increase of 6.3% over 1997. |
|
In 1998, retail ad spending was $20.3 billion, an increase
of 5.7%. Classified expenditures grew to $17.9 billion, an increase
of $6.6%, and national hit $5.7 billion, for a gain of 7.7%.
|
|
Newspapers' share of $43.9 billion of advertising
spending gave the industry an estimated 21.9% of all ad expenditures
in 1998. Broadcast television's $39.1 billion left it with 19.5$
of the ad-spending pie. |
|
An NAA report, "Competing for the Markets
of the Future: An Up-Close Look at the Media Teens Rely On,"
found that 69% of teenagers (age 12-17) read a newspaper in the
past week. Forty % of them read or looked at a local daily newspaper
in the past day. |
|
Almost three-quarters of teenagers (72%) read
or looked at a Sunday newspaper in the past month with a higher
figure for older teens (78% of 15-to-17 year-olds). Half of all
teens (50%) looked or read a Sunday paper in the past week. |
|
When compared with other media, newspapers are
what teens rely on for overall news and information content: newspapers
were cited by 47% of teens, versus 32% for second-ranked television. |
|
Newspapers are among the top two media teens
use for advertising information; they like TV for awareness of
new products, but rely on newspapers for pricing information,
finding local availability of products and for classified advertising. |
|
More than 900 newspapers in the U.S. have sites
on the World Wide Web. NAA operates a site that links to most
of them at: www.newspaperlinks.com. |
|
Nationally, over 56 million newspapers are sold
daily, with an average of 2.2 readers per copy. And on Sunday,
over 60 million newspapers are sold, with an average of 2.3 readers
per copy. |
