Sort of a mixed story for ad spending via the NYT. Stuart Elliott reports on the latest projections, ranging from good to awful, depending on who you listen to. :) As the story notes:
“The trend that will continue to affect the media universe in 2007 is the ongoing shift in advertising dollars from traditional media into nontraditional media, most notably the Internet,” Fitch Ratings concluded in an outlook report.
Television, radio and newspapers will “experience slow growth and ongoing audience declines,” according to the report, “and ad spending continues to follow consumer patterns.”
This is not news for anyone tracking the trends. The question remains: can the print and traditional broadcast adjust their cost structure to come inline with these new realities?
Another good read: Jack Shafer over at Slate does a dissection on why the Journal is really getting smaller. Boy, it's gotta be aggravating when your competitor (in this case the NYT) does a way better job of giving the "why" than your own editorial page does...