Hard to believe but the newspaper industry has experienced its worst year to year percentage decline for advertising since the NAA (Newspaper Association of America) has kept records beginning in 1950. I hope you chuckled a bit when you read the “hard to believe” part. I think about how my own newspaper reading habits have changed over the years and I can safely say that the newspaper is truly becoming marginalized as a news and advertising source.
I first read this story on Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim (which I highly recommend for great information on internet marketing happenings). I continued on to read the article from Editor & Publisher and I have to say that I have a different view of things.
The article points to the economic slowdown as a main cause of this problem. Here’s my take on this talk of an economic turndown: Stop whining, please! Look, let’s just face the fact that the newspaper as a news source and advertising vehicle is in a major transition. Newspapers have lost their relevance as a leading news source because of the advances of technology and the changing habits of information consumers. While there are some economic concerns I personally believe that the talk of a recession or economic downturn or whatever you want to call it is more a creation of the media than anything else. Why wouldn’t things look different after having several years of unrealistic inflation in housing prices and the ability to get a ridiculous loan by simply fogging a mirror? What we are experiencing is simply a correction based on the free market adjusting to inflated activity that had no basis in reality. Newspapers had nothing to do with any of this (other than feeding whatever misinformation perpetuated the myth). What the newspapers of today need to realize is that they are being pushed to the fringe because of the limitations of printed news, the oftentimes ridiculously skewed political positions that kills any objectivity in reporting (take note News and Observer in Raleigh, NC) and the fact that no one really reads the ads.
Now here is the best example of some of the gripes I just listed above. The article from Editor & Publisher goes on to bemoan the effect on the online revenue of these newspapers as well. It sites that online ad growth was 31.4% in 2005, 31.4% in 2006 and just 18.8% in 2007. Hey I’ll give you the fact that the numbers are quite different but should anyone who has a clue about what is going on throw up a red flag on near 19% growth year to year? C’mon. There are literally millions of businesses that would kill for that kind of performance. It is just irresponsible to point to that kind of growth as part of slowdown rather than just a normalization of an unsustainable growth rate in an explosive industry (online marketing).
To summarize, yes, newspapers are suffering with their ad revenue. Is it because of the economy or their diminishing relevancy? I think that anyone who is thinking can make that call pretty easily.
Thanks and have a great day!
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