Does Advertising Clutter Have Diminishing and Negative Returns?

Abstract Advertising clutter is a phenomenon that arose from advertisers' need for advertising space. When too much space is devoted to advertising, clutter can jeopardize the audience's editorial interest. Commercial pay media such as magazines have to balance the conflicting needs of the advertiser and the audience. The authors report a longitudinal analysis of the impact of clutter on the circulation and advertising revenue of 10 selected magazines. They find that advertising clutter yields negative circulation returns and diminishing advertising revenue returns when a magazine's clutter level exceeds historical averages. Entertainment-oriented magazines appear to be more susceptible to the negative impact of clutter than news-oriented magazines.