Old Media Takes A Whallop
By Greg L | 8 April 2008 | Blogs | 1 Comment
The Newspaper Association of America reports that 2007 saw the largest decline ever in advertising revenues for newspapers. While online advertising revenues are up, print advertising is down by a much larger amount resulting in the largest revenue drop the association has ever seen.
According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 — the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950.
The answer here probably has a lot to do with declining subscription rates. Who is going to pay more to advertise in a newspaper that fewer people are reading? One look at the five year chart for Media General, parent company for the Potomac News and Manassas Journal-Messenger, should help answer the bigger question here:
The newspaper industry is dying because it’s simply not providing a product or service that consumers value very highly. Unless they can figure out how to make themselves more relevant to consumers, we may not have to tolerate the garbage they inflict on their readers for much longer. With steadily declining revenues and no apparent recovery strategy, companies like Media General aren’t going to last.
I wonder if Media General would like to unload the Manassas Journal-Messenger/Potomac News as part of a cost-savings effort? Just the opportunity to give the pink slip to Susan Svhilik would make something like this worthwhile, and I bet there are plenty of folks out there who could do a better job running this business.
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Well, like you’ve mentioned, there are numerous examples of other papers getting the scoop on MJM, including non-local papers. If they can’t offer current news in a reasonable timeframe, then they don’t deserve paid subscriptions.
I do wonder, a little, how “going green” has affected newspaper sales?…that folks would much rather see the stories online than waste the paper…