Soft ad market

Newspapers are not alone. Viacom CEO Phillipe Dauman warned investors at a Sanford Bernstein conference that the second quarter is looking weak, with ad sales in the 3 percent to 4 percent range, compared with 7 percent during the previous three months. "We are seeing some signs of softness in some categories," he said, mentioning automotive in particular. "We are in an economically uncertain environment." That's on top of Rupert Murdoch warning that the U.S. economy will have a tough time in the next 18 months. Even the online world will be taking it on the chin in the April-June quarter, according to Silicon Alley Insider.

A major online publisher (name redacted for obvious reasons) tells us that ad sales are "very soft" at his shop and at his competitors'. He predicts that Q2 online sales at large online publishers will be "flat." What's the problem? Last quarter we heard about pullbacks among financial/mortgage advertisers, as well as the auto sector. Now, our publisher source tells us, the problem is the "scatter" market -- discretionary, on-the-fly ad buys.