A chunk of those nifty double-digit increases in online advertising being announced quarterly by newspaper companies comes from the nationwide boom in real estate. But the Wall Street Journal, in a story sure to thrill the execs overseeing its expansion into weekend publishing, contends that newspapaers “could be heading for a collision with modern home economics” with the increases masking “a years-long decline in classified-ad revenue.” The potential combo mask remover: a shift to a bear market for real estate and the continuing increase in non-traditional internet sites.
Lots of numbers. The one that grabbed my attention is the relatively small small amount of real-estate advertising going online; according to Borell Associates, online real-estate ad sales in 2005 will total about $1.8 billion, just 15.7 percent of the total.
Newspaper sites have to go beyond transferring print ads online. The Palm Beach Post, for instance, has set up search kiosks in shopping malls. The Journal asks if efforts like that and online frills cannibalize from newspapers. Cox President Jay Smith replies, “If we don’t do it ourselves, somebody else will.” So true.
Subscriber content
?
Subscriber content comes from Gigaom Research, bridging the gap between breaking news and long-tail research. Visit any of our reports to learn more and subscribe.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments have been disabled for this post