The Print Advertising Industry
Print advertising involves advertising in printed media such as newspapers, magazines, and trade journals. It includes everything from the media that has a broad base of readers like major national magazines or newspapers. It also includes media with smaller market such as local newspapers and publications on specialised subjects. One form of print advertising is classified advertising. This type of advertising allows individuals as well as companies to buy small ads with narrow targets for a small fee in order to advertise or promote certain products and services.
One of the earliest forms of advertising is on print. In ancient civilisations, such as those of the Egyptians and Greeks, advertisements were written down on paper. Once more people began to have access to education and learned to read, the print ads which made use of images developed to include texts as well. Thus, with the widespread use of printing methods, handbills became a popular form of advertising. During the 17th century, advertisements started to appear in English weekly newspapers. These early ads were mainly used to sell books and newspapers, along with medicines. However, when false advertising became prevalent, advertising content began to be regulated.
When the French newspaper, La Presse, included paid advertisements in its pages which allowed it to lower its selling price, others quickly followed suit when they saw that the paper was able to extend its reader base and increase its profits by doing this.
Today, print advertising continues to be one of the major forces in the industry since most publications still derive a great part of their earnings from the advertising space they provide for retailers.
