B-to-B Ad Demand Remains Mixed, Chances Of Year-End Surge Erode

Hopes for a year-end rebound in business-to-business advertising demand appear to be dissipating. While ad spending in the business press rose 1.1 percent in November, ad pages actually declined 3.7 percent, the worst ad page results since August when B-to-B ad pages fell 6.3 percent, according to estimates released Wednesday by American Business Media (ABM).

The trade group had been forecasting a fourth-quarter surge in B-to-B ad demand would push 2003 results up, despite some erratic results earlier in the year. In each of the past several months, the ABM repeated downgraded its expectations for 2003 ad dollar growth until yesterday's November data release, when they left a projection out altogether.

"November overall was weaker than expected," sated Gordon Hughes, president-CEO of the ABM, adding, "As we go into the new year, we are hopeful that the growth in telecommunications-formerly a lagging category-is a harbinger of a more robust 2004."

Nonetheless, Hughes noted that was some encouraging results in November, particularly an improvement in the highly volatile telecommunications category, which boosted ad spending 37.1 percent.

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However, seven of the 12 categories tracked by the ABM continued to falter.

Business-to-Business Ad Pages, Dollar Trends


Ad Page Ad Dollars
January -5.4% +2.9%
February -5.6% +2.4%
March -5.0% +5.8%
April -8.4% -9.7%
May -5.9% -1.1%
June +0.9% +4.9%
July -9.7% -7.9%
August -6.3% -3.5%
September -2.2% -0.5%
October -2.8% +3.3%
November -3.7% +1.1%

11 Months -3.5% +0.6%

Source: Source: Business Information Network, American Business Media, TNS Media Intelligence/CMR.
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