Stories
Stories
Extra! Extra! Newspapers Miss the Story
Newspapers are missing an opportunity to boost revenues by barely tapping the online market, according to a new study by Assistant Professor Clark Gilbert and Borrell Associates Inc. In Newspapers Miss Out on $300 Million in Online Advertising (October 1, 2002), Editor & Publisher reported that the study of some 250 American dailies found that newspapers are forgoing nearly $300 million annually by failing to use the Internet to serve new advertisers.
Despite an intense commitment from the industry, most online newspapers are missing 40 to 45 percent of the categories of revenue when compared with other online content sites. In an effort to defend their print businesses, newspapers have failed to realize that a new business is growing all around them, says Gilbert. For example, he adds, the Internet is the only media that allows you to provide rich content in a targeted way, and yet less than 5 percent of the newspaper industry offers any targeted advertising products. The irony, he notes, is that the Internet will eventually eat into traditional print revenue, but the overwhelming effect will be net growth.
Unfortunately, newspapers now appear to be focused on replacing their high-margin business of print classifieds with the lower-margin business of online classifieds, Gilbert told Editor & Publisher. If that's all they're doing with their online operations, we'd suggest that they shut them down tomorrow. Instead, he advises, the papers need to tap deeper into the advertising options that the Web enables — using banner ads and e-mail notifications for classifieds, for example — to generate revenue.