Is Print Advertising Dead?

The phrase “Print is dead” has flippantly been thrown around throughout the past decade. However, many people saw the end of print circulation as something far off in the future. But, the boom of internet publications and the increasing prevalence of social media has allowed information to spread quicker than newspapers could be printed and dropped on doorsteps. 

On February 9, 2022, the popular magazines Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, EatingWell, Health, Parents, and People en Español, ceased all print publications. A shift like this makes it seem that the end of print is closer than we think. If the notion that “Print is dead” is coming to fruition, what does this mean for print advertising?

According to the Pew Research Center’s “Newspapers Fact Sheet,” the estimated advertising and circulation revenue for 2020 was 9.6 billion dollars, compared to 18.2 billion dollars in 2016, which is a 47% drop over only four years. However, newspaper advertising revenue coming from digital advertising is steadily increasing: in 2020, it was at 39% compared to 35% in 2019 and 29% in 2016.  

In the magazine industry, the revenue made from advertising follows a similar pattern to that of newspaper advertising. In 2016, North American magazine ad spending was 16.75 million dollars and decreased to 9.8 million dollars in 2020, according to Statista. This shows a 41% decrease over four years. 

Despite these jarring statistics, a variety of research indicates that print advertising is the most trustworthy form of advertising to consumers. A 2021 study from Insider Intelligence found that 46% of Americans trust print ads, while only 19% trust social media ads. 

While the revenue made from print advertising is decreasing rapidly, there is still a need for print advertising. As of now, it’s a reliable method that consumers still trust. So it seems that the short answer is, no, print is not dead. It is alive, for now. It will probably linger around, for a bit, dying a very slow death, with personally tailored digital ads on the internet and social media eventually leading to the demise of print advertising as we know it.