Communications

The communications industry is a multibillion-dollar business. The different industries that fall under the communications umbrella, as reported by the market research group IBISWorld, include public relations, advertising, publishing, and social networking sites. The public relations industry generates approximately $16 billion in revenue. As of December 2018, there were more than 44,700 public relations businesses in operation in the United States. The growth of social networking services and mobile devices will contribute to the PR industry’s continued growth in the next few years. The advertising industry is a $54 billion business, with more than 71,500 advertising firms in the United States. The ad business has seen steady growth the past few years and that growth is expected to continue, thanks to the rise of digital mediums such as smartphones and tablets.

The publishing industry includes newspapers, magazines and periodicals, and books. Print publishing has been declining this past decade due to the increased popularity of Web-based content. IBISWorld reported the newspaper publishing industry generates $25 billion in revenue, reflecting a decline of 4.3 percent from 2014 to 2019. As of May 2019, there were only 6,909 newspaper publishing businesses in the United States. Magazine and periodical publishing companies fared about the same by comparison, with an annual decline in growth of 4.2 percent in that same time frame. Magazine and periodical publishing, including such companies as Hearst Corporation and Time Inc., generated $26 billion in revenue and has more than 5,000 companies in operation in the United States. Consumers continue to shift to digital media, further reducing subscription and advertising sales.

The book publishing industry had also been in decline since the growth of online content. Many companies have adapted to new technologies the past few years and restructured to accommodate consumers’ preferences, such as by publishing e-books. IBISWorld reported -.1 percent annual growth from 2014 to 2019. The book publishing industry is a $29 billion business, with about 2,461 publishing companies in operation in May 2019. Growth in textbook publishing has been offset by declines in trade publishing.

As expected, social networking sites will experience tremendous growth in the foreseeable future. There should be plenty of job opportunities for communications professionals at companies such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and Microsoft, to name only a few. IBISWorld reported the social networking industry is an $40 billion business that experienced more than 29 percent annual growth between 2014 and 2019. As of January 2019, there were 6,030 social networking companies in the United States.