Advertising Helps Automobile Sales

Prescott Evening Courier
25 August 1939

It has been declared significant that with the pronounced increase in newspaper advertising, and corresponding decrease in radio advertising, the automobile industry shows increase in sales of nearly 45 per cent for the first half of 1939 over the similar period in 1938. This fact is pointed out by the Pacific Coast Division, Bureau of Advertising, American Newspaper Publishers Association, quoting Media Records tabulations for all dailies in 52 leading cities of the United States.

These figures disclose that, for the first six months of 1939, automobile advertising lineage in daily newspapers was up 16.7 per cent over the first six months of 1938. There were 26,147,703 lines of passenger car copy this year as compared with 24,114,643 lines for the corresponding period a year ago.

Contrasted with these figures, the investment of the automobile industry in radio dropped more than $600,000. For the first six months of 1939, automobile radio expenditures were only $1,950,109 as against $2,770,552 for the comparable months of 1938. There was also a decline in spot radio announcements.

National new passenger car registrations show that at no period since 1935 was a sales gain made equal to the 45 per cent shown for the initial half of the present year. This fact makes the increased use of newspaper advertising even more worthy of attention.