Recovery Seen Across a Range of Advertising Media

(MoneyWatch)  The first real signs of recovery have been seen in advertising media, according to a range of companies across TV, web and publishing. BNET noted that a recovery in advertisng may be under way on Nov. 17 as revenues at agency holding companies ticked up, at least sequentially.

The LA Times reports that the TV networks are seeing increased demand for ad slots in the final months of the year as retailers look for Christmas customers. Prices for airtime at ABC, CBS, NBC et al have risen 10 - 35 percent.

European publisher Bertelsmann AG (BTG:GR) is also seeing a boost in demand:

Bertelsmann AG, Europe's largest media company, sees a "small year-end rally" in the advertising market, German newswire Deutsche Presse-Agentur said, citing Chief Executive Officer Hartmut Ostrowski.

The web is also stabilizing, according to TechCrunch:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers released third-quarter figures showing that online advertising in the U.S. approached $5.5 billion, up 1.7 percent from the second quarter of 2009, but still down 5.4 percent from the same quarter a year ago

There are two caveats to all of this. First, there will be no sustained recovery in the ad market if there is no recovery in the job market. Increased ad budgets targeting a reduced number of consumers is the definition waste, and clients will not spend more ad dollars to chase fewer buyers.

The second, as longtime BNET readers know, is that the increased demand in the TV scatter market may largely be a product of the restricted inventory offered to advertisers at last spring's "upfront" buying season (when the major networks attempt to persuade advertisers to buy up to a year's worth of ads all at once). The LA Times:

It also represents something of a win for the networks, which gambled this summer that demand would pick up later in the year and held back a larger percentage of their inventory than in previous years, hoping to capitalize on the improved economy.

Seeing increased prices because of an artificial restriction of inventory is not a recovery that can be sustained in the long run. Time will tell.

• Related:
• Spot the Recovery: Advertising Revenues May Be Showing Signs of Life
• Is the TV Networks' Upfront an Antitrust Violation?