Today the Guardian Unlimited reports a prediction that in the UK the Internet will overtake national newspapers in the battle for advertising spending.
When will this be? Five year’s time, or 10? No — this could happen by the end of 2006.
GroupM, a UK company that accounts for about 30 percent of global media buying, says in a yet-to-be-published report that the Internet will comprise 13.3 percent of the £12.2 billion UK advertising market this year, overtaking national newspapers with a share of 13.2 percent.
Dan Milmo, the Guardian’s media business editor, writes that the speed at which advertisers have shifted spending to the Web has surprised many. It was only six years ago that the Web was an upstart medium controlling only one percent of the British advertising market. Since then, growth in broadband usage and declining newspaper circulation appear to have justified the hype around the online medium.
GroupM warns that tabloids have been hit the hardest, with aging audiences and celebrity magazines damaging newsstand sales. It also warns that the migration of classified adverts to the Internet also poses a big danger for newspapers.
