Roughly 1 in 2 executive and sales managers expect local ad revenue increases of more than 6% this year, including 20% who forecast gains in excess of 10%, details AdMall in its latest local media sales forecast. With roughly 4 in 10 expecting revenue increases of 1-5%, a total of almost 9 in 10 respondents are projecting increases, similar to last year’s results, with just 5% forecasting a revenue decline.
How did 2013 end up? Ad sales didn’t quite meet expectations, it seems. While 9 in 10 expected revenue increases last year, this year’s survey indicates that a relatively smaller 57% achieved those gains. About half that share (29.1%) saw revenues decline.
This year, mobile is moving to the forefront of digital media sold by local salespeople. Fully 56% of respondents said they are selling mobile advertising, up from 37.6% last year and 25.4% the year before. Mobile is now second to display/banner ads, sold by 73.5% of respondents, and is ahead of social media ads (41.8%) and email ads (41.5%).
Not surprisingly, digital is eating up a bigger share of the revenue pie, expected to account for 19.1% share of overall sales revenue, up from 12.2% a year earlier. Even so, a significant portion of managers expect revenue increases of more than 10% for city/regional magazines (25.5%), broadcast (18.5%) and cable TV (14.7%), among others.
Other Findings:
- SEO (82.4%) and ad retargeting (76.4%) are the most commonly sold digital marketing services.
- Compared to last year, 43% of managers believe that it is getting harder to meet corporate expectations, and almost 4 in 10 feel the same way about overcoming advertiser churn. A significant 60.7% feel that it is getting harder to hire high quality salespeople.
- 8 in 10 respondents overall use or monitor Facebook for selling and/or keeping up with advertisers, with three-quarters also using LinkedIn for that purpose.
About the Data: The AdMall Local Media Sales Forecast was conducted November 11-22, 2013. The sample size for this online survey was 1,073 across the United States, including 114 in executive management, 171 advertising sales managers with at least one report, 643 account executives and 145 in marketing/research or sales support.
