Across media landscape, recession

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While that could describe nearly any industry amidthis it’s particularly apt for the whose advertising-based business model is takinh a beating. Those companies still advertisinhg want toensure they’re getting the most valuew for their dollars, whicu makes competition in the splintering medi landscape even tougher, said Marshw Young, a media buyer and partne at Columbus-based “More than ever,” she said, “peopld are (return-on-investment) based.” Columbus Business First spok to a sampling of area media companies to see how the recessioj has affected them.
“What’s affecting us is the automotivd andhousing categories,” said Brian market manager for ’s seven area radio stations. Realtorsd and car dealers are in the top five advertisintg categoriesfor radio, Dytko so when those industries started declining, radio wasn’t far Dytko estimated clients have cut their advertising budgets by 30 Clear Channel stations noticed a change last Dytko said, but the decline accelerated this year after the auto industry hit the skids. The resulr has been cutbacks. San Antonio-based Clearr Channel said in January it wascuttinbg 1,850 jobs, or 9 percent of its work force, as part of a $350 millio n cost-cutting plan.
Dytko declined to say how many jobs were lostin Still, Dytko said it appears businesse is picking up and, if the economy is turninfg around, he expects radil will recover. “Everybody is he said. “I don’t see radi o losing market share to any othersignificang media.” Circulation and advertising revenue at newspapers have been declininfg for several years. One cause is the Internet, where most newspapers are givinyg away their newsfor free. And the deepening recessionn has hurtas well.
The Columbus Dispatcbh has had a couple roundse ofjob cuts; , a commercial printer in Carroll ownedd by shut down in and Addison, Texas-based , parent of The Other Paper, Columbus Monthly, CEO magazine and the weekly newspaper chain, filed for Chaptedr 11 bankruptcy protection in At the Columbus Messenger Co., a Columbus-based ownere of suburban weeklies, customers were asked to make a voluntarh contribution of $18 so the paper coule continue home delivery. “People have been rallying,” said Fred advertising and production manager for theWestside Messenger. Schenko said the biggest impact on his paper has come from a declins in realestate advertising.
“We’ve also seen a declinw in small-businesses advertising,” he said. “They’re goingh out of business or cutting Thepaper hasn’t had to cut jobs, Schenlk said, but it hasn’ t been replacing people who left With more than $1 billion raised duringy the last presidential campaigbn season, 2008 was good to televisioh stations. This year is a different but not as bad as onemightg think, said Michael Cash, vice president of sales at televisioj affiliate WCMH. “We’ve had double-digit declines, but that’s based on a pretty healthy year (in 2008),” Cash said.
“Ifr we’re down 15 to 20 percenf overall, it’s because of a 30 percent nationalp drop and a 5 to10 local.” The majority of spot offered on broadcast stations are sold by the national networks, while local affiliates sell the WCMH continues to sell its spots, Cash but at lower In the first rates were down 10 percent to 15 percent. Because of companies that may have advertisedx only in print before have moveedto TV, Cash said. Still, that doesn’t make up for the decline in automotive ads, which Cash said in the past made up 20 percentt to 30 percent ofthe industry’sd business. ColumbusUnderground.com is doing better than most.
Operated by one man, it’ a Web site that offers readers an aggregation of news stories from othe media and someoriginal content. Walke Evans started the site in 2001 as a source for news on Columbuss nightlifeand entertainment, but it has sincre evolved into a general interest site. “I don’t think people are lookingg forless news. They’re just lookingb for it in differenr ways,” Evans said. As ColumbusUnderground grew, it attracted enoug h advertising from small businesses that Evans was able to quit his job in 2007 to work on the site He hopes to soon be able to pay salarieszand health-care benefits for a small number of full-timd employees.
The key, Evane said, is the site’s low-cost model. Ads cost between $50 to $200 a montjh based on size and placement. That attracts clientsd that advertised little if any inthe past, Evansd said.