SPH to suffer from weak ad spends

Its display and classified ads revenues fell by 21% in the past quarter.

Singapore Press Holding's media business will remain bleak, following the segment revenue decline it incurred in the past quarter, down 16% to $183m.

According to DBS Group Research analyst Alfie Yeo, this is apparent in the 22% decline in the turnover for classified and display ads.

"This, in our view, validates that readers are shifting away from traditional newsprint, resulting in lower circulation and demand for newsprint," he said, noting that the outlook for adspend will likely continue to be lackluster going forward.

He said a combination of sluggish consumer sentiment, poor GDP growth and subdued use of internet advertising in recent years has caused adex to plummet.

"According to our economics desk, Singapore’s GDP growth for 2017 is expected to be at 2.8% from 2.0% in 2016. Whilst GDP is expected to recover, adex continues to fall led by a shift of consumer into online and advertisers using more online/social media in their marketing strategies," the analyst explained.

He furthered, "More consumers are moving away from print and more advertisers are engaging online platforms in their marketing strategies."

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