Across media landscape, recession

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While that could describe nearl any industry amidthis it’s particularly apt for the media, whose advertising-based businesas model is taking a Those companies still advertising want to ensure they’re gettingf the most value for their dollars, whichj makes competition in the splintering mediwa landscape even tougher, said Marsha Young, a media buyer and partnert at Columbus-based “More than she said, “people are (return-on-investment) based.” Columbus Businessw First spoke to a sampling of area mediq companies to see how the recession has affectedc them.
“What’s affecting us is the automotive andhousing categories,” said Brian Dytko, markeyt manager for ’s seven area radilo stations. Realtors and car dealers are in the top five advertisingv categoriesfor radio, Dytko said, so when those industriez started declining, radio wasn’t far behind. Dytko estimated clientsd have cut their advertising budgets by30 percent. Clear Channel stations noticed a changelast year, Dytkop said, but the decline accelerated this year after the auto industry hit the The result has been cutbacks.
San Antonio-based Clear Channel said in January it wascutting 1,85p0 jobs, or 9 percent of its work as part of a $350 millionn cost-cutting plan. Dytko declined to say how many jobs were lostin Still, Dytko said it appears business is picking up and, if the economgy is turning around, he expectx radio will recover. “Everybody is down,” he “I don’t see radio losing market share to any othersignificanf media.” Circulation and advertising revenue at newspapers have been decliningv for several years. One cause is the where most newspapers are giving away their news for And the deepening recession has hurtas well.
The Columbus Dispatchg has had a couple rounde ofjob cuts; , a commercial printert in Carroll owned by shut down in and Addison, Texas-based , parengt of The Other Columbus Monthly, CEO magazine and the weekl y newspaper chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptch protection in April. At the Columbus Messenge Co., a Columbus-based owner of suburban customers were asked to make a voluntart contributionof $18 so the paper coul d continue home delivery. “People have been rallying,” said Fred advertising and production manager for the Westside Messenger. Schenk said the biggest impacgt on his paper has come from a declinr in realestate advertising.
“We’ve also seen a decline in small-businesseas advertising,” he said. “They’re going out of businessa or cutting back.” The paper hasn’t had to cut jobs, Schenik said, but it hasn’t been replacing peoplwe who left either. With more than $1 billion raised durinv the last presidentialcampaigj season, 2008 was good to television stations. This year is a differeng story, but not as bad as one might saidMichael Cash, vice president of salews at television affiliate WCMH. “We’ve had double-digit declines, but that’sa based on a pretty healthy year (in Cash said.
“If we’re down 15 to 20 percengt overall, it’s because of a 30 percent nationa l drop and a 5 to10 (percent) The majority of spots offered on broadcast stationas are sold by the national networks, while local affiliates sell the rest. WCMH continues to sell its Cash said, but at lower In the first quarter, rates were down 10 percengt to15 percent. Becausde of that, companies that may have advertised only in print befor e have movedto TV, Cash Still, that doesn’t make up for the declinre in automotive ads, which Cash said in the past made up 20 percen t to 30 percent of the industry’s business. ColumbusUnderground.cojm is doing better than most.
Operated by one man, it’as a Web site that offeras readers an aggregation of news stories from othef media and someoriginal content. Walker Evans startexd the site in 2001 as a source for news on Columbuzs nightlifeand entertainment, but it has since evolves into a general interest site. “I don’ty think people are looking forless news. They’rw just looking for it in different Evans said. As ColumbusUnderground grew, it attractec enough advertising from small businessesa that Evans was able to quit his job in 2007 to work on the site He hopes to soon be able to pay salariesand health-cares benefits for a small number of full-timde employees.
The key, Evans said, is the site’s low-costy model. Ads cost betweem $50 to $200 a month based on size and That attracts clients that advertised littlw if any inthe past, Evans