Online Newspaper Advertising Revenue Falls
At first it seemed that there was going to be a shift from advertising on traditional paper media to more online advertising, leading to a more competitive market, and rising advertising revenues of web publishers. However, according to recent reports on Bloomberg, US online newspapers publishers saw a 3% decline in ad revenues over the last quarter. Paper based advertising has fallen by 19%.
Online advertising had been growing constantly quarter on quarter since 2004, when advertising revenues were first monitored by Arlington. It was thought that the credit crunch and global recession would lead to an increase in online advertising revenues as companies move from print ads to cheaper online ads. But it seems that advertising budgets are being cut back further than expected.
However, there is still no doubt that the printed media is suffering far worse than the online versions, with reports of job cuts from the major news houses and some publishers defaulting on debt payments and reducing circulation of their papers.
One of the first victims to fall was the 100 year old Christian Science Monitor (CSM), which is planning to reduce its daily paper to a Sunday print, and focus on its online version. John Yemma, editor of the CSM said the new model would allow the publication to retain its eight international bureaux and still save money. CSM predicts that this is a “leap that most newspapers will have to make in the next five years”. The CSM previously relied on annual subscriptions to make up a large share of its revenue, now it is turning to online advertising revenues.
