• by Wayne Friedman , June 10, 2015

This comes from a new report on local media from Borrell Associates, which surveyed over 7,228 business in the first and second quarters of this year. The report says 20% of those businesses plan to increase their TV station media versus under 10% five years ago. Nearly the same number plan to add to their cable TV budgets this year.

But online/digital still dominates these small and medium-sized businesses -- where nearly 60% will increase media budgets in 2015 from around 50% in 2010. In particular, mobile media will get have the greatest increase -- from near zero in 2010 to 50% of those saying they will spend more in 2015.

Some 55% of these businesses use online media, with the expectation that 80% will do so by the end of 2015.

Borrell Associates says in surveying the tax records of 2 million companies since 2004 that overall "advertising is in a decline," with advertising as a percentage of gross revenues declining to 1.05% from 1.19% between 2004 and 2012.

Borrell says that had businesses maintained their ad spending, it would have resulted in $56 billion more for the advertising economy now versus 10 years ago.

It believes all that money is going into digital “storefronts” and marketing efforts. Borrell says 20% of SMBs now get their sales from online versus 13%.

Currently, 72% of all small- and medium-size businesses buy some form of digital services, with 82% have their own media channel -- Web site/social media page.