ADVERTISING revenue earned by Ireland's national newspapers rose by over 15 per cent in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday by the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI).
The figures reveal that the Republic's II national newspapers attracted almost £53 million in display and classified advertising from January to June, 1996, compared with nearly £46 million during the same period in 1995.
Revenue from advertising agencies accounted for over £30 million of the total, an increase of over 20 per cent on the first half of last year, with classified advertising accounting for the remainder.
The chairman of the NNI, Mr Louis O'Neill, said the results reflected "the increasing quality and readership of newspapers" and added that these factors, combined with cost effectiveness and precision targeting, made newspaper advertising the "automatic choice for most advertisers".
The NNI table of advertisers was topped once again by McConnells advertising agency, which spent over £2.1 million, an increase of 25 per cent on the January to June period of last year.
The largest overall increase came from Brindley Advertising, which is now the second highest spender at over £1.8 million.
The top 10 advertisers (with expenditure in brackets) were
1) McConnells (£2,112,332)
2) Brindley (£1,872,801)
3) All Ireland Media. (£1,739,900)
4) Bell(£1,656,682)
5) Zenith(£1,380,465)
6) Irish International (£1,297,277)
7) Doherty/Padbury... (£1,254,457)
8) Peter Owens(£1,020,020)
9) CDP... (£964,473)
10) Eason Advertising.. (£910,043)