by Tatiana Repkova

After trying and failing to compete with Craigslist's free classifieds, The Tribune Company has said it will begin working with news aggregator Topix to provide free general-merchandise classified ads on its newspapers' Web sites.

More

by Tatiana Repkova

Business-to-business (b2b) market executives still prefer to showcase their products and services in print and at trade shows rather than online, according to a new media trend survey from USA Strategies. The Chicago-based, b2b marketing and communications firm reported customers do not trust online messages.

More

by Tatiana Repkova

TNS Media Intelligence’s 2007 advertising forecast shows a 5.4 percent increase in Hispanic media in the US over 2006. Hispanic media in the US will represent 3.3 percent of total advertising spend in 2007, compared with the estimated 3.2 percent spent on Hispanic media last year. Total US advertising spending is expected to increase a more modest 2.6 percent in 2007, to $153.7 billion. "The Hispanic market is continuing to look very strong," said Steven Fredericks, president and ceo of TNS Media Intelligence. "The overall outlook for 2007 is relatively conservative at 2.6 percent, and the growth forecast for Hispanic media is more than double that. Lack of major advertising events in 2007, such as the Olympics or an election year – or the World Cup, which contributed significantly to 2006 spending in Hispanic media — as well as a slow-down in general economic growth, were cited by Fredericks for the tepid overall growth. Adspend among key categories such as automotive, retail, travel and health and beauty is forecast to be slowing as well. Furthermore, Fredericks said, the percentage of ad budgets going to digital media is growing faster than any other category, but due to lower unit costs it is keeping down price inflation. The Internet and Spanish-language media will continue to grow at a faster rate than the other media categories, Fredericks said, referring to their intrinsic strength. www.tns-mi.com; http://www.fipp.com/Default.aspx?PageIndex=2002&ItemId=13541; 23 January 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

TNS Media Intelligence says that advertising will dip 0.9% in 2007 from 2006 figures, and its percentage of the total spend will fall from 18.4% to 17.7%. It is the Internet that is forecast for the greatest percentage increase – 13.4% over 2006, raising its share of the total spend percentage from 6.5% last year to 7.2% this year. TNS forecasts that overall US advertising expenditure will increase by just 2.1% in the first half of the year, but it predicts things will pick up in the second half with a 3.2% gain. Overall the total US ad expenditure is expected to increase 2.6% to $153.7 billion. http://www.followthemedia.com/tickle/ticklefile08012007.htm#7; January 12, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

The Czech Republic is as good an example as any to show why western media companies have flocked to and are still very interested in investing in Eastern Europe. The advertising economy there continues to boom. Czech advertising agency ARBOmedia forecasts that the 2007 advertising spend will come close to $1 billion (€700 million), representing a growth rate of 5.7%, double the growth rate of 2006. The Internet spend is predicted to grow the most in percentage terms, 35%, to €26 million, but it represents only 4% of the total spend. TV still rules the roost and is expected to garner 48% of the market with a €333 million spend. http://www.followthemedia.com/tickle/ticklefile08012007.htm#20; January 12, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

Consumers turn to newspapers first for shopping information, according to the latest research from the Newspaper Association of America which indicates more than 50 percent of adults cite newspapers as their advertising medium of choice when deciding what to purchase. The report, "Consumer Usage of Newspaper Advertising 2006," is available as a pdf download at http://www.naa.org/advertiser/Consumer-Usage-Report.pdf. Newsletter for Directors of WAN Member Associations; January 3, 2007