Spend on direct mail down in 2008, while growth in online spend slows

by Noelle McElhatton, Marketing Direct 16-Mar-09, 12:00

LONDON - Spend on direct mail fell by six per cent in 2008, according to a survey by the Advertising Association. At the same time, online spend increased by 17.3%, but this represents a slowdown in the growth rate of digital marketing. Internet spend in 2007 rose by 39.5%.

Total ad spend fell by 3.9% in 2008, with a steep downturn of nearly 10% in the final quarter, the Advertising Association said.

Other forms of print marketing saw a sharper decline than direct mail: spend on newspaper advertising saw the biggest decrease of all channels - it fell 12 per cent in 2008, with magazine advertising falling 9.9%. Radio spend was down 8.5% while TV fell 4.9%.

"These figures reflect the long term trend of direct response advertising moving from print to digital, coupled with the fact that financial services, once the biggest sector spender on direct mail, has pulled back on cold marketing of any product relating to credit," said Charles Ping, client services director at data analytics firm Ai Data Intelligence.

Direct mail's less flexible media costs compared with press and TV advertising are also a factor in the decline in spend.

The figures are published today in the Quarterly Survey of Advertising Expenditure, compiled by the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) on behalf of the Advertising Association (AA).