Newspapers: Dig The Grave

April 10, 2008 on 12:33 pm | In Advertising, Journalism, Media, News, Newspapers, Online | 3 Comments

New data shows that newspapers – through their digital versions – capture the most local online advertising dollars. In 2007 newspapers netted 26.9%, or $2 billion of the $7.5 billion total local online ad spend, according to Borrell Associates on behalf of the Newspaper Association of America.

The good news is that newspapers surpass local yellow pages (9.5%), local television stations (9.5%), and radio (2.1%) in local online dollars. Here’s the bad news: newspapers are losing local ground to the likes of Yahoo and Google.

According to the study, newspapers’ share of local online ad revenue was 35.9% in 2006, but dropped 9 percentage points in 2007.

The fate of newspapers lies online. Print is an outmoded method of delivery for newspapers and will die if all remains the same. If newspapers decide their print versions are going to be more in-depth and less about breaking news, then they might survive. Otherwise, get the shovels out and dig the grave.

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  • http://www.tpetaccia.com/newsblog/ TM Petaccia

    This has been coming a long time. Print newspapers as we now know them have – maybe – 15 years of life left – and that’s probably extremely optimistic.

    As you say, print newspapers will have to turn into magazines to just hang in there (more indepth, etc) – and stop publishing daily – we’ll soon be back to the weeklies. Pubs like the Sunday New York Times will have a nice life – for a while – but in the end, it’ll be a digital information world.

    I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, overall. Certainly it’s better from an environmental standpoint. The real key, however, is to see if that journalistic integrity is not lost in the transition to 100% online – and that just to stay profitable – newspapers have to stoop to Perez Hilton or Valleywag type coverage.

  • http://www.my-creativeteam.com Harry Hoover

    UPDATE: Ad Age Series on Newspaper Death Watch: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=126685

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