Alan D. Mutter reports on the Worst quarter for newspapers: Sales dive $2.6B:
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In the worst quarter in modern history for American newspapers, advertising sales fell by an unprecedented 28.3% in the first three months of 2009, plunging sales by more than $2.6 billion from the prior year.
Statistics posted without publicity on the website of the Newspaper Association of America show that print ad sales fell by a historic 29.7% to $5.9 billion in the first period of this year and that online sales fell a record 13.4% to $696.3 million.
The worst percentage decline was in the highly profitable classified advertising category. which dived 42.3% to produce slightly less than $1.5 billion in sales.
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Alan explains the trend has been going on for years. In 2005 ad sales reached an all-time high of $49.4 billion. It looks like this year newspapers will be lucky to sell $30 billion.
Check out the graph on his post.
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3 comments:
I thought the main ad revenue was the large ads for small businesses and stores.
I never thought city newspapers made the bulk of their money on classified ads. I am skeptical of the impact of Craigslist as I see it as mainly a way for laypeople to sell stuff or even give it away (like on freecycle but with less hassle than freecycle).
Anyway the problem is the writing and content of the city newspapers, it is lacking and the new generation of readers, the teens & 20 somethings are not reading it. I don't read it either and prefer online news that I can find quickly, for free, and don't have to deal with lots of newspaper cluttering my house. Although I do like the paper version of WSJ.
I totally believe that classifieds are going away. Makes perfect sense when you can get something better, easier, for free.
~Luke
When I want to look for classified ads, I still read the paper. I prefer something I can hold and flip through. Call me old-fashioned.
I was looking for a used piano this winter and I looked through the papers and couldn't find what I was looking for. My very technical, computer-savvy brother suggested I check out craigslist. I looked and found over-priced pianos...not interested.
So I made my own post (second time I ever used craigslist services) saying that I was a homeschooling mother of three looking for a free or inexpensive piano. Piano will be much loved my the children for many years to come. I got an immediate response, and bought a piano from an elderly couple who were trying to clear clutter out of their house. It was so cheap and when the piano-tuner came to the house, he told me it was practically new--not played much. He also told me the worth which was over $1000 more than what I paid for it.
I'm quite happy I tried craigslist. I think it opens us up to a broader audience you will not find in your local newspaper.
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