I know that it's been widely reported here, but the fragmentation of the advertiser base is what is hurting newspapers the most. The dirty little secret in the newspaper business was that you could charge for an ad as if every single subscriber actually saw it. Newspapers raised rates yearly and without cause. Declining circulation was no reason to lower the ad rate... just send out a letter that states that newsprint prices were increasing.Now, there are real-time metrics which help advertisers determine the effectiveness of the ad spend. These tools are improving every day. TV, radio and print don't offer that.
If the economy does improve, newspapers aren't going to start hiring more people to report the news because the ad spending isn't coming back.
Ever.
Garson failed to address the ignorance of newspaper managers who ignored the threat of Craigslist, jobs.com and realtor.com. These channels provided tremendous revenue streams for newspapers because advertisers didn't have many cost-effective options.
Today, they do.
And that, Arnie, is a huge [elephant-sized] problem.
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spot on, great observation @12.41.
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ReplyDeleteAlso another newspaper problem is an inflated sense of importance. Just as cartoonists have become less important, so too will editorial writers. As circulation falls, editorials carry far less clout. Some papers still approach editorials as if they were some divine missive from above. Nobody cares. It is but one attenuating voice in the noisy crowd.
ReplyDeleteI think 5/18/2009 4:24 PM is on the right track, but as a former editorialist and editorial page columnist, it is sad it had come to this.
ReplyDeleteIt seems strange that the editorial voice of the newspaper would become weaker at a time when politically polarized readers lap up Everything FOX and MSNBC put out, 90 percent of which is opinion and speculation.
And what in heaven's name will bloggers rant about if the newspaper editorial board doesn't do their homework for them?
I think 12:41 means the fragmentation of the advertiser spend. This vertical will never return to its late 1990s heyday.
ReplyDeleteGannett never saw it coming, and invested in properties in presses that aren't worth much today.