In a report issued today, Competitive Media Reporting says $313.2 million in advertising revenue was lost during the week of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
In the aftermath of
the attacks, networks stopped their ads to broadcast straight news. Meanwhile, many advertisers also pulled ads because they didn't think they should run during a national emergency.
Network
advertising took the biggest hit, losing $188.4 million for the week of Sept. 9 to 15, 49 percent of its weekly revenue. Spot, or local ads in the top 75 markets lost $93.2 million, or 30 percent of
weekly revenue. Cable was the least effected, losing $31.6 million, only 16 percent of its total.
On Sept. 11, $84.6 million was lost. In the following days, smaller amounts were lost, although
they were almost as significant. For instance, while network tv lost $45.9 million on Sept. 11, it lost $41.9 million on Sept. 12.
"We commend the networks decision to forego advertising revenue to
keep the nation informed," says David Peeler, president/CEO of CMR. "Unfortunately, it resulted in a gloomier outlook for advertising's largest medium." Spending on TV advertising had already showed
declines of two to four percent for this year. "Now we're looking at revenues that could be down six to eight percent," he says.
As for whether the losses will be recouped, Alan Banks, executive
vice president of North American Media at Saatchi & Saatchi/New York says, "Some will respend the dollars and some will not, depending on their situation. It depends on what's going on in the economy.
Some will take the opportunity of a slow economy not to respend, while others will, depending on their industry and what's involved."