The reasons for placing an advertisement vary, from wishing to sell something to finding a partner, from raising funds to trying to alter public opinions about an institution, organization or candidate. Advertising is a big business, from the creation of the ad to buying the time or space for placing that ad to the strategies behind ad campaigns and nowhere is it as big a business as in the United States. For more on how the U.S. stands relative to all other nations when it comes to spending on advertising, check our earlier market size post, here.

The business of advertising is divided into categories by the Census Bureau which reports on each category: Advertising, Public Relations and Media Buying Agencies, Media Representatives, Display Advertising, Direct Mail Advertising and all other. Among these categories, three have shown the most growth over the last decade (from 2001 to 2009): Media Buying Agencies saw growth of 322%, Display Advertising grew by 68.4% and all other advertising grew 46.7%. The all other advertising category covers some of the online advertising business that does not fit into one of the other categories. One category saw losses over this period, the Direct Mail Advertising category which is particularly vulnerable to cutbacks during recessionary periods. Overall, the industry (NAICS 5418) saw revenue grow by 37.8% between 2001 and 2009 and another 8.7% between 2009 and 2010.
The chart we offer here shows revenue from all these sectors of the industry from 1997 through 2010. Of interest is the fact that the recession of 2001 had a larger impact on the industry’s revenues than did the larger recession of 2007–2009.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2001 and 2010
Market size: $58.634 and $87.836 billion respectively
Source: “Table 6.1 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (NAICS 54)—Estimated Revenue for Taxable Employer Firms: 2001 Through 2009,” 2009 Services Annual Survey, and “Table 1 – Selected Services Estimated Quarterly Revenue for Employer Firms Fourth Quarter 2003 Through Fourth Quarter 2010,” from the same series and available here.
Original source: U.S. Census Bureau
Posted on January 4, 2012