Advertising Expenditures on Media Vehicles and Sales

Abstract

This research aims to advance the literature by identifying the association between four advertising media vehicles (Internet, press, outdoor, television) and contemporaneous sales. Previous research highlights the influence of advertising on firm value but does not delve into the effects of advertising media vehicles. Employing primary data which details the advertising expenditures of 88 publicly traded companies over 11 years, we empirically show a positive association between television and outdoor advertising expenditures and contemporaneous sales. However, we do not find any significant results for press and Internet advertising. We investigate the moderating effect of the growth opportunities, industry sectors and firm size. Our study offers important evidence that the contemporaneous relationship between sales and advertising expenditures varies by media vehicle. We discuss the implications of our findings for the matching principle, a principal concept in accrual accounting.

Keywords: advertising, sales, advertising media vehicle, matching principle, information

JEL Classification: M30, M31, M37, M40, M41