• by Wayne Friedman , January 15, 2014

Local media revenue is set to climb mid-single-digit percentages this year, according to a study of ad sales managers and executives.

Just under half of executive managers and sales managers predict a revenue increase of 6% to 10% in 2014, according to AdMall, a sales consultant/database for local and digital advertising.

Twenty percent of those managers expect revenue increases of more than 10%; 40.3% see increases of 1% to 5%. The lowest number of managers -- 5.3% -- predict revenue declines, while another 5.3% expect little or no change in sales.

The study forecasts digital to account for 19.1% of overall local by 2015 -- up from 12.2% in November 2013. In addition, nearly 56% of media sales executives are now selling mobile advertising -- up from 37.5% last year. Overall, nearly 40% of media companies are now selling digital marketing services.

Advertising churn has become a serious issue among managers. Almost 40% of managers and account executives believe it is more difficult to replace lost accounts than it was a year ago.

"One troubling finding from the study is that 31% of media salespeople feel it's getting harder to make money in media sales than it was just a year ago,”  stated Barry Shawgo, vice president of sales for AdMall. Much of this comes from less experienced executives.

The study was was conducted between Nov.11 and 22, 2013 with an online survey of 1,073 U.S. media salespeople, sales managers and executive managers .