Coronavirus Poised to Be Worse for Advertising, Media Than Last Recession

The last recession was bad for advertising and media, but the economic fallout from the coronavirus is expected to be even worse. In the decade since the recession of 2008 and 2009, the media world has become more used to digital operations and subscriptions. But most media entities are still too dependent on advertising revenue to weather what is expected by analysts to be a drastic reduction by advertisers large and small in marketing spend. Be it online, in print or on TV. “The Great Recession was a low point in the recorded history of advertising,” research firm eMarketer said in a note. “Total media ad spending declined for two straight years in the U.S. and digital ad spending even dropped in absolute terms in 2009, the only time that’s ever happened.” Yet advertising and marketing executives are expecting the effects of the coronavirus to outstrip that previous low point. A survey of such executives by IAB with more than 400 respondents found 70 percent have already “adjusted or paused their planned ad spend” for the first half of the year. Another 16 percent are “still determining what actions to take.” Of those, 24 percent have pulled the entirety of their ad budgets.

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