Drop in Traditional Ad Revenue Highlights Need for Online Marketing and Online Search Capabilities

Industry revenues from newspaper advertising fell 7.9% in 2007, the New York Times recently reported. Background figures from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) show that the steep decline in traditional ad revenues would have been greater still if the drop in traditional ad revenue had not been offset by an almost 19% increase in online advertising revenues. Overall, in 2007 online advertising accounted for 7.5% of newspaper revenues in the United States, up from 5.7% in 2006.

“Even with the near-term challenges posed to print media by a more fragmented information environment and the economic headwinds facing all advertising media, newspaper publishers are continuing to drive strong revenue growth from their increasingly robust Web platforms,” NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm said.

These figures highlight the increasing trend away from traditional advertising media - newpapers, television, radio - to expanding online marketing opportunities. This shift highlights how important it is for companies, both large and small, to have an effective and search friendly online presence. Whether a company’s target market is global, national or local, the trend is sharply away from traditional media advertising.

The numbers from the NAA should indicate to businesses, no matter how large the scope of their market, how important it is for them to optimize their local search engine presence and capabilities, since newspaper advertising is particularly aimed at local consumers. Search engine optimization (SEO) of a company’s website should take into account this sharp shift away from newspaper advertising, particularly local newspaper ads, and optimize the effectiveness of their business’ local search capabilities.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 7:15 am and is filed under Local Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.