The share of digital newspaper advertising is free-falling from 16.2 percent in 2005 to a prognosticated 7.9 percent in 2014.
Despite those bleak predictions by Nat Ives, newspapers reach more than a third of web users in today’s online world. That is great news for the industry as well as for the advertisers.
It is clear however that newspapers will have to reshape the way they conduct business online to succeed in attracting significant revenues in the future.
Newspapers have for years been stuck on the banner-advertising model, while other online services have been delving into multiple options such as local coupons, production services, ad networks, auctions, exclusive offers, content networks and more.
The New Revenue Model Mosaic is a term used by professionals in the field to describe a new form of an agency model for online newspapers. To compete, it seems newspapers will have to evolve into virtual advertising agencies in the sense that they will need to offer more than just the hackneyed banner.
What does this all mean?
Now more than ever newspaper advertising representatives must go out to market more as ad consultants offering multiple products to include direct mail, Zillow, SEO, banner, SMS messaging, Facebook, Twitter, mobile, applications, geo-targeted emails, coupons, products, offline services and more.
They will need to research their advertisers to develop the optimal approach and types of products that offer the most benefit to each client. A staid financial institution for example will not likely be interested in Twitter or Facebook. A car dealer on the other hand may well be attracted to and benefit from these social networking services. A bank likely will concern itself more with stature, whereas an auto dealer is not bound by such constraints and can benefit from the wider and more diversified reach that Twitter and Facebook can offer.
Overall, the future of online newspaper cannot be discounted. The market-share charts can certainly be corrected to reflect an upward trend despite Mr. Ives’ dark predictions. The availability of other services broadens newspapers’ value to its advertisers and clients.
