Automotive ad drought hitting magazines, and particularly newspapers, hard

Magazine and newspaper publishers are suffering from the flight of advertising from the automotive industry, according to a story in the New York Times.

For all the discussion of new media’s role in hurting profits and revenues at traditional media outlets — newspapers, magazines, broadcast television and radio — the sharp downturn in the auto industry is another big culprit, and is taking an increasing toll on the advertising revenue generated by the media.

In the first quarter alone, the auto industry spent $414 million less on advertising than in last year’s first quarter, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

(A previous post reported that automotive pages in magazines reported by the Publishers Information Bureau were down 21.3% in the second quarter.) 

The Times story said that, while newspapers are the hardest hit (carrying such a large proportion of full page, dealer-driven automotive ads).

“What we’re seeing in the automotive industry is a major pullback in advertising,” said Ellen Oppenheim, executive vice president at the Magazine Publishers of America. “And we think they’re going to take a more conservative approach for some time.”