• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 10, 2004

The 2004 edition of annual media industry statistics reveals that the relationship between the time consumers spend with media and the amount of money Madison Avenue invests in those media is growing is growing increasingly exaggerated in favor of the oldest media. Print media outlets generate a far greater yield of advertising dollar relative to their share of consumer time, according to a MediaDailyNews analysis of the data from the 2004 edition of Veronis Suhler Stevenson's annual Communications Industry Forecast & Report. Conversely, the analysis shows radio to be the most undervalued ad medium relative to consumer usage.

Newspapers command nearly seven times and magazines about twice the proportional share of advertising dollars relative to their share of consumer exposure, the analysis finds. The finding is important, because criteria such as "involvement," "engagement" and "attentiveness" are becoming increasingly valued elements in media planning decisions. While the amount of time consumers spend with media is not the only factor used to determine involvement, it is an important one.

During 2004, VSS estimated the average U.S. consumer will spend only 169 hours reading daily newspapers and 118 hours reading consumer magazines, which compares with thousands of hours spent with TV (1,792) and radio (1,002). The Internet, the youngest of the Big 5 consumer media, now garners significantly more consumer hours (189) than the print media do, but still reaps only a fraction of their ad budgets (see table below).

Analyzed on the basis of ad dollars per consumer hour spent with each medium, newspapers will yield $324.3 million per consumer hour in 2004, followed by $99.2 million for magazines. The Internet at $44.4 million per hour was closed to the Big 5 average of $48.1 million per hour, but the two big electronic media outlets, TV and radio continue to lag.

The analysis does not account for actual exposure to advertising time within each medium, nor clutter levels and other factors that would influence the impact of consumer involvement with those media. Recent studies by print researchers, especially in the magazine industry, indicate readers have a high degree of involvement with print media, but a number of ad effectiveness studies have shown that electronic media, especially television, reaps high returns on advertising investments. The radio industry is poised to release a new ad effectiveness study next week.

Ad Spending Per '04 Consumer Hour Spent With Media

                         Ad    Consumer Time    Ad Dollars Per 
                   Spending     (Hrs/Person)     Consumer Hour 
TV            $61.6 billion            1,792     $34.4
million 
Radio         $20.9 billion            1,002     $20.9 million 
Newspapers*   $54.8 billion              169    $324.3 million 
Magazines     $11.7 billion              118     $99.2
million 
Internet       $8.4 billion              189     $44.4 million 

 Average                 NA               NA     $48.1 million 

Source: MediaDailyNews analysis of data from Veronis Suhler Stevenson's 200r Communications Industry Forecast & Report. *Daily newspapers. NA = Not applicable.