National news brands post second consecutive quarter of growth

Total ad revenues grew to £234 million with digital increasing by 6.5% to £81.8 million in Q3 2019

Advertising revenue across national news brands rose by 0.4% year-on-year to £234 million, in the third quarter of 2019.

The Advertising Association/WARC expenditure report shows an encouraging reversal from decline into growth for the industry across the year.

Despite a challenging first quarter of -9.1%, the following two periods swung into growth by 0.3% (Q2) and 0.4% (Q3) respectively – a turnaround of over nine percentage points. 

This has seen an overall improvement on the full year forecast for 2019, moving positively from     -5.7% (Q1 2019) to -2.5% (Q3 2019).

Online growth of 6.5% to £81.8 million for the period is also reflected in the 2019 full year digital forecast of 5.1%. Online ad revenue in 2020 is expected to grow by another 5.2%.

Tracy de Groose, Executive Chair Newsworks, said: “Advertisers are increasingly recognising the importance of context and quality journalism once more, so I believe we now have a real opportunity to close this incongruous gap that exists between audience and advertising growth.  

“Despite a tough start to 2019 I am delighted we delivered two consecutive periods of growth, and on certain numbers we outperformed the forecasts.

“However, these numbers still don’t reflect the record readership numbers we are seeing – 26 million daily – as more and more people demand reliable and trusted sources of news, analysis and insight.”