• by Joe Mandese , November 11, 2010

At a time when the value of ad-supported media should be accelerating, as demand from advertisers coming out of the recession builds, some of the biggest and highest profile national media options continue to lag. That's the finding of an analysis of the past six quarters of media cost data compiled by syndicated researcher SQAD for MediaDailyNews. The data, which benchmarked the costs of major media during the second quarter of 2009, near the height of the Great Recession, shows that ad prices have firmed up considerably for local media such as spot TV and spot radio, but have actually deteriorated for national media options, especially online publishers.

The data, which are derived from SQAD's reports for individual media, which are based on actual transaction data supplied directly by advertisers and agencies, found that online display ad costs have fallen 13 index points in the third quarter of 2010 from the second quarter of 2009, when they were benchmarked at an index of 100.

SQAD's analysts did not speculate on the reason for the declines, but they correspond to the rampant rise of display advertising networks, real-time bidding exchanges, and so-called demand-side platforms that have driven some advertising budgets away from publishers' premium advertising sales toward secondary markets where similar inventory can be bought for a fraction of the price.

But that doesn't' explain why the costs of national TV media, especially the major broadcast networks, as well as cable TV networks, are also languishing.

Ad prices for the major broadcast networks have also fallen 13 index points from their second quarter 2009 benchmark, while cable network ad prices have declined four index points during the same period.

Whatever the cause, the data indicate that while total advertising revenues continue to improve, significant advertising price deflation appears to be occurring across the major national media. Four SQAD databases were used to analyze the changes from baseline Q2 2009 through Q3

Media	SQAD Source	Q2,2009	Q3, 2009	Q4, 2009	Q1, 2010	Q2, 2010	Q3 2010
Internet Display Ads	WebCosts	100	98	103	99	95	87
Spot TV	Spot TV	100	101	107	93	107	109
Spot Radio	Spot Radio	100	98	100	96	101	103
National Broadcast	NetCosts	100	86	89	85	103	87
National Cable	NetCosts	100	86	97	77	98	96

Source:2010 WebCosts Top 8 categories used: Search Engines/Portals & Communities, Entertainment, Auto, News/Information, Corporate Infor., Finance/Insurance/Investment, Family & Lifestyles, Home & Fashion Spot Radio A18+ Mon-Sun Avg Spot TV A18+ Mon-Sun 6AM-2AM NetCosts A18-49 Total Day All numbers are based on scale Q2, 2009 = 100.