The Magazine Publishers of America, a trade group representing consumer title publishers, reported that dot-com advertisers spent an estimated $640 million in magazines during the first half of 2000. The figure is four times the amount spent during the same period last year, according to the study, which measured advertising activity from January through May.
The MPA report broke down print ad expenditures by Web site categories such as retail, apparel, technology and more than a dozen others. By category, retail and media Web sites spent the most money on advertising in print magazines. Together they accounted for more than 51 percent of the $640 million in dot-com ad spending. Individually, e-tailers contributed 28 percent, while media Web sites registered 23.4 percent.
The next-highest spenders — technology dot-coms, at 17 percent, and online financial and real estate firms, at 16.5 percent — accounted for slightly more than one-thirds of the total dot-com dollars. Travel and transportation sites contributed 3.6 percent, the next-highest advertising expenditure, according to the report.
After that, the dollars poured in from diversified industries, as no category registered as much as even 1 percent. Online automobile sites, for instance, spent only 0.7 percent. Food Web sites, at 0.1 percent, and toiletry/cosmetic sites, at 0.02 percent, showed even less interest in print magazines.
The five firms that spent the most money promoting their dot-com businesses during the period were:
• Datek Online, $10.5 million.
• Delta Airlines, $10.3 million.
• American Express, $10 million.
• Time Warner, $8.0 million.
• Ameritrade, $7.6 million.
