€170m spent on advertising in major national newspapers this year

A SURGE in advertising sales at the Irish Examiner helped fuel a 20% increase in first-half advertising revenue in the country’s major national newspapers.

The National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) yesterday said advertisers spent over €170 million on press campaigns, compared with €142m in the same period last year. This was driven by growth in direct spending and ad space bought through intermediaries.

The NNI, which includes the Irish Examiner, Irish Independent and The Irish Times, as well as the main Sunday newspapers, said property, recruitment and retail advertising continued to perform solidly. There was also a “dramatic upsurge” in brand and display advertising, which the group described as “extremely encouraging” for agencies and newspapers.

Irish Examiner advertising manager Aidan Forde said the overall revenue increase reflects the strength of press as an ideal vehicle for advertising and promoting products or services.

“Newspapers provide a unique environment for advertisers, and our readers are very much in a receptive frame of mind not only for the general editorial content but also for the advertising content.

“These latest figures re-enforce our belief that to achieve significant sales, drive traffic and build brand awareness, newspaper advertising is key,” he said.

The figures benefited from inclusion for the first time of Irish editions of a number of British titles. But like-for-like revenues were still 13% ahead when these were stripped out.

Total agency revenue was almost €90m for the six months, while €80m was spent on direct and classified advertising.

Aegis Media was the biggest-spending ad agency, paying out €10.8m for space in the national press. This was 37% more than the first half of 2004. Aegis was followed by Mindshare, which spent €8.3m, and Brindley, which bought space worth €7.2m.

The figures showed the April to June period saw a pick-up on a strong first quarter. NNI advertising revenue then was 22% ahead year-on-year, outsrtripping the 18% increase in the period between January and March.