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Marketing Industry: A Resource Guide

Historical Marketing Industry Data

Historical marketing and advertising information can be found in early trade publications in addition to the select sources listed below. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available. For additional advertising and marketing sources from an earlier time period, see the guide to Consumer Advertising During the Great Depression.

Standard Rate & Data Service

Started in 1919, Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS) is a research firm that publishes advertising pricing for media, such as newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio and television. It includes circulation and/or viewership data along with other market information so advertisers can select appropriate sources that would reach the target audience for their product or service. They stopped publishing in print in 2014, and can now be accessed online with a subscription. While a number of their publications can be found the Library of Congress catalog under the author heading Standard Rate & Data Service, below highlights their main publications related to business media, consumer/farm media, radio, newspapers, and television. The publications changed titles a few times and are grouped here under their earliest catalog record. These titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.