Savor your morning coffee while reading the paper because if forecasting models hold true, printed newspapers may be extinct within 5 years, as advertisers realize greater click-through rates and other metrics on the internet.
Publishers lost $3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2008, which is the lowest point in over a decade, according to the Newspaper Association of America.
Newspaper sales plummeted 16% in the second quarter of this year, after dropping 14.4% in the first quarter.
Classified advertising collapsed 35.2% to $5 billion, including drops of 36% for job ads, 35.5% for real estate, and 21.9% in automotive.
You can blame the classified ad slumps on the housing mortgage crisis and the rise in gas, but I don’t foresee a revival anytime soon, do you?
As Sterling Hager reported last year:
…let’s look at the future of online news as it would pertain to newspapers. Increased, highly-targeted online advertising, audio and video to supplement plain text, a 24 hour news cycle, user generated content…all things that are going to be required for our familiar friend that is black and white and read all over.
Maybe the Simpsons said it best…
Hmm?
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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I wonder what the ecological saving would be if this holds true?
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