Borrell Associates Releases 'Local Advertising At The Tipping Point' Report

New Report

On MONDAY (NET NEWS 6/8), ALL ACCESS reported a new report from BORRELL ASSOCIATES has a "big uh-oh for radio." The release, "Local Advertising At The Tipping Point," notes the "percentage of SMBs (Small to Medium-sized Business) who 'won’t buy radio' is now at 37%, up from 23% five years ago."

Now, BORRELL has released more details from the report, writing "We’re at a critical juncture in media history, one that is redefining the landscape so quickly that we’ve obviously reached a tipping point. Usage of online media has become ubiquitous and necessary, and usage of traditional media advertising has become niche and optional. It used to be the other way around. Our survey of 7,228 SMBs indicates an acceleration in upward and downward trends for media buying. More have told us they’re planning to increase digital budgets than we saw in our 2011 and 2013 surveys, and more have told us they’re planning to abandon traditional media."

Surprisingly, "Advertising, as we’ve come to know it, is in decline. We found clear evidence of that in IRS tax records. If businesses were devoting the same percentage of this year’s gross revenues to advertising as they were 10 years ago, the advertising economy would be $56 billion richer," adds BORRELL.

Click to enlarge.

In the chapter, "The Big Shift: How SMBs Are Changing Budgets," they note, "It’s difficult to examine the marketing intentions of more than 7,000 local businesses and not arrive at the conclusion that a tipping point has been reached. The pace of change is accelerating. Anything involving traditional media channels is now considered expensive, difficult and risky; anything involving digital is seen as inexpensive, easy and low-risk. Online is becoming an essential marketing utility, adopted by so many businesses now that usage has become nearly ubiquitous. In 2011, 55% of SMBs used online media; by the end of this year, 80% will be doing so. Traditional media, meanwhile, has devolved into an option, selected by habit or by preference but certainly not by necessity. And, it’s often bought in order to drive a business’s digital goals. Online is now at the top of the local media food chain, appealing to the largest percentage of local advertisers and taking the largest share of ad budgets of any other media. It’s a poignant moment in media history, considering the fact that newspapers have held the #1 position for more than three centuries, when the first newspaper ad appeared in the BOSTON NEWS-LETTER in 1704."

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