Directories

Yellow Pages, the thick directories of telephone listings and display advertisements, represented the fifth most popular advertising medium in 1999, attracting $12.6 billion, or 5.9 percent, of total advertising spending. Almost all advertising in the Yellow Pages is local advertising.Magazines ranked sixth in 1999 in total U.S. ad spending, representing 5.3 percent, or $11.4 billion. Although newspapers reach all different kinds of readers, a magazine’s specialized editorial content generally reaches readers who have similar interests. The relatively specialized, narrow audience of a magazine enables an advertiser to speak to those most likely to buy a particular product. For example, a manufacturer of mascara who advertises to teenage girls could use a magazine with editorial content aimed especially at teenage girls to reach that audience exclusively.

A magazine's editorial environment can also lend a product credibility and prestige, and the magazine’s ability to reproduce beautiful color photographs can enhance a product's appearance. As a result, magazine advertising is an effective way to build a product's brand image. Because such advertising is expensive and because most magazines are distributed regionally or nationally, they generally feature national advertising rather than local advertising. Magazines generate 63 percent of their revenue from advertising.