Matthew Swain

Abstract

As new communication technologies, such as the Internet, continue to grow in the United States, advertisers are re-evaluating which media mix will deliver the best return on investment. The magazine, Advertising Age, releases a list of the 100 Leading National Advertisers each year – a list that includes the advertisers’ spending in measured and unmeasured media. The seven measured media categories (newspaper, magazine, television, outdoor, radio, Internet, and Yellow Pages) include the data necessary to analyze the change in advertising spending among these leading national retailers. Using the data from both 2003 and 2005, the researcher explored three questions: 1. Were there significant changes to the distribution of advertising spending by medium between 2003 and 2005? 2. Are there differences in media mix by industry of the advertiser? 3. Has Internet advertising grown at the expense of other media? After performing the necessary data analysis to answer the first question, the researcher is 95% confident that there was a statistically significant increase in radio and Internet advertising between 2003 and 2005. On the other hand, it was also determined that there was a statistically significant decrease in Yellow Pages advertising. After analyzing the data for the second research question, it was determined that there has also been a change in advertising spending by industry by medium. The advertisers from the automotive industry most closely correlated with the overall changes among the leading national advertisers, while other industries had substantially larger increases in spending for Internet and radio advertising. In exploring the third research question regarding Internet advertising spending taking away from other media, the data does not support or reject this claim. Although Internet advertising grew at a statistically significant rate, other media also increased. Using this data set, the one medium that could be losing ground due to Internet advertising is in Yellow Pages advertising. This being said, there are too many variables involved in this study to single out Yellow Pages as a new source for Internet advertising dollars. This study provides a basis for further research using data from future annual releases of Advertising Age’s “100 Leading National Advertisers.” It also could lead a person into further research surrounding the recent growth in radio and Internet advertising as well as the significant reduction in printed Yellow Pages advertising spending.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Ad Age Group; Advertising media planning; Advertising campaigns; Internet advertising; Radio advertising; Telephone--Directories--Yellow pages

Publication Date

5-1-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Department, Program, or Center

School of Print Media (CIAS)

Advisor

Sorce, Patricia - Chair

Advisor/Committee Member

Cost, Frank

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: HF5826 .S93 2007

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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