Advertising comes in different flavors. There are the traditional methods such as the television, radio and newspaper advertisements and there are also digital advertisements. One of the traditional methods that is also available digitally is called directory advertising. In directory advertising an advertiser is placing his or her in a certain type of directory. The most used and famous directory where many companies place their ads is the Yellow Pages directory. Yellow pages directory is a telephone directory of companies and businesses. Inside the directory are the businesses of different categories. These contacts are grouped into categories rather than alphabetically. Since it is called as the yellow pages directory then it is obvious that the color per pages is yellow. Since directory ads have come online these days, then the yellow pages term is also applied in the online directories for businesses.
Statistics and Tables
The following graph will provide information about the total expenditure of directory advertising. The first graph will show the directory advertising spending (traditional and digital) in the United States in 2011 to 2015 and a forecast from the end of year 2016 to 2017. A decreasing trend can be observed from the graph. In the year 2011, the total expenditure was 8.2 U.S. billion dollars. Comparing it to other advertising strategies, it is somewhat small. A decrease occurred in 2012 by 0.7 U.S. billion dollars. Its de-escalating trend is not changing. In 2017 the estimated amount to be spent in directory advertising is only 5.3 U.S. billion dollars. This means that more marketers will not engage in directory advertising. According to reports, traditional channels such as newspaper ads and directory ads will become more irrelevant.
Another will show the digital classified and directory advertising spending in the United States from the year 2014 to 2019. This will only forecast the total expenditure of digital classified and directory advertising. The traditional classified and directory advertising is not included. As shown in the graph, an expected escalation will happen in digital classified and directory advertising. In year 2014 and 2015, only 2.82 and 2.94 U.S. billion dollars was spent in this kind of advertising. However, by the end of 2016 it is estimated to grow by 13 million dollars. When year 2019 comes, the predicted total expenditure would be 3.47 U.S. billion dollars. This just implies that businessmen, instead of engaging on traditional directory, they will invest in digital directories.
In an article of eMarketer shows the US total media ad spending share by media in the year 2012 to 2018. By looking at the directories category, it projects a de-escalation of the total amount to be spent. In 2012, 4.5% of the whole advertising amount came from directory, however, in 2013 it decreases by 0.5%. In 2014 only 3.5% of the amount came from directory and then another decrease was made when 2015 came. In this year, it is expected that only 2.8% of the advertising total expenditure will come from directory advertising.
In conclusion, directory advertising will not be used by most entrepreneurs. Though some of them may still use this but their budget will become lesser.
Sources:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/190296/us-online-classified-and-directory-advertising-forecast-2010-to-2015/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/242768/directory-advertising-spending-in-the-us/