An old advertising adage says that “money follows eyeballs”, meaning that advertising spending will follow wherever consumers focus their attention or spend their time. If this were true, advertising revenue broken down by medium should roughly align with the average time people spend using different media. But is that really the case?
Comparing U.S. ad revenue figures published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to daily media consumption estimates by eMarketer, the following chart shows that both indicators do indeed correlate. In 2017, U.S. consumers spent the most time watching TV and using mobile devices, which is also where the lion’s share of advertising dollars went. There is one notable exception to the rule though: print media, which receives more ad dollars than it should based on how much (or little for that matter) time people spend reading newspapers and magazines.
Does this mean that print publishers should fear a further decrease in ad revenues? Not necessarily. While people may not spend as much time reading as they used to, print advertising is still one of the most trusted and thus effective forms of advertising, which is why brands continue to assign a seemingly disproportionately large share of their ad budgets to print media.
Related Infographics
FAQ
- The Statista "Chart of the Day", made available under the Creative Commons License CC BY-ND 3.0, may be used and displayed without charge by all commercial and non-commercial websites. Use is, however, only permitted with proper attribution to Statista. When publishing one of these graphics, please include a backlink to the respective infographic URL. More Information
- The Statista "Chart of the Day" currently focuses on two sectors: "Media and Technology", updated daily and featuring the latest statistics from the media, internet, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries; and "Economy and Society", which current data from the United States and around the world relating to economic and political issues as well as sports and entertainment.
- For individual content and infographics in your Corporate Design, please visit our agency website www.statista.design
Any more questions?
Get in touch with us quickly and easily.
We are happy to help!
Do you still have questions?
Feel free to contact us anytime using our contact form or visit our FAQ page.
Your contact to the Infographics Newsroom
Statista Content & Design
Need infographics, animated videos, presentations, data research or social media charts?