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Is Madison Ave. living it up like Don Draper?

Jeff Tyler Jul 18, 2013
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Is Madison Ave. living it up like Don Draper?

Jeff Tyler Jul 18, 2013
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Two advertising giants give a glimpse into the real ‘Mad Men’ economy on Thursday. Omnicon and Publicis Groupe are scheduled to announce quarterly earnings results.

The ad industry has come a long way since the dark days of the recession.

“Definitely these companies have rebounded and recovered since 2008,” says Brian Sheehan, assistant professor at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

The ad industry is doing so well that some believe it can only go down from here.

“In terms of sales growth, we’re expecting some deceleration just based on how strong their sales growth has been over the last few years,” says Michael Corty, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar.

In recent years, the lines have blurred between traditional advertising and social media upstarts.

“They’re all very much playing in each other’s space. So there’s been a lot of fragmentation and a lot more competition really in the marketplace than there used to be,” says Sheehan.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the end for traditional advertising.

“There really has not been any consistent data to support a contention that traditional advertising is losing ground. It’s been quite resilient,” says Heather Goodchild, managing director of Standard & Poor’s media and entertainment group.

Print ads continue to flail in a long downward trend, but not television.

“Actually, TV advertising, on a whole, keeps growing,” Corty says.

Despite the rapid growth of Internet advertising, he says TV ads are still the most effective way to reach a big audience quickly.

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