Robert Ivan

Online Newspaper Growth Continues to Impress

"NYTimes.com (NYT) was the #1 online newspaper destination in December 2008, with 18.2 million unique visitors."

And they still can't make enough money to break even. Why?
Average Display Ad price for News sites:

* Fell from an average price of $0.53 in Q4 2007 to $0.34 in Q4 2008 – a 36% drop.
* Fell from an average price of $0.36 in Q3 2008 to $0.34 in Q4 2008 – a 5.6% drop.

Pursuing growth is not an economically sustainable business strategy. Newspapers need to focus on innovating their revenue streams. www.metaprinter.com/?p...

10 Ideas for Newspaper Survival

The Biggest Problem with these suggestions is that they are content ideas. Even if they succeed, there is no revenue model here.

Where is the revenue model?

Traditional newspapers relied on advertising, but advertising is being replaced by internet marketing. Why place a crummy $1800 ad in a paper or $1cpm on a general interest newspaper site when the business can create it's own website? A site which is freely listed and found via Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Yelp, Yellowpages.com, search engine searches, etc.

Newspaper need to remain relevant to readers as well as businesses in order to survive.

In all of the Tribune news, Detroit news, and now NYTimes news, I never hear of Strong revenue models being attempted. Instead we get completely useless features like an emailed e-edition. wow.

Point 9.Shake up leadership - touches on this, but no one is yet willing to attempt it in any meaningful way.

Could the LA Times Turn Off Its Presses?

"Some of that print advertising will now be forced online."

some, maybe? But there is more compelling evidence that businesses are finding better ways to connect with potential customers.

A company website featured in FREE listing sites like Yahoo local and Google maps is a hard price to beat. Advertising is a necessary evil and if businesses can do it better, cheaper and faster, they will do it, outside the scope of a general information newspaper site.

The Fundamental Problem of Newspapers on the Internet

Thanks for all the great feedback. This helps me narrow down the direction of focus for my next article.

Another reader emailed me to remind that one other likely outcome of failing to quickly innovate advertising is "they'll go bankrupt and then restructure on the cost side". True indeed, just look at tribune (and maybe MNI).
-robert

Newspapers: Not a Zero-Sum Game - A Minus-Sum Game

I woke up this morning thinking about the bicycle shop I used to frequent in my hometown. The were family owned and in town since forever. When big box stores started coming up, people bought their kid's bicycles there instead of the family shop. Business faltered and then their world changed completely as a walmart and toys r us was built in town. They went bankrupt.

The upside is that there is new bike shop in town. They sell and repair high end road-bikes and mountain-bikes. They participate in local events. They sponsor local riders for the amateur circuit with little things like free tire tubes and wheel alignments. They have a loyal and growing customer base that the big box stores cannot touch.

Newspapers take note. Adapt to the market.

Washingtonpost.com Keeps Readers on the Same Page with New Links

I like that the Washington Post is trying new things to increase reader engagement and increase revenues. If you read WPO's annual report they are quite frank in their outlook of the newspaper industry. Kaplan and Cable One are now and will be in the foreseeable future their main businesses. They do have a strong interest in printing a premier newspaper though and their constant innovation is greatly appreciated by newspaper lovers.