According to eMarketer.com, the outlook for newspaper publishers is grim. Their business model is broken and advertisers are bailing. Newspaper advertising revenues in the US declined 16.4% in 2008 to $37.9 billion. By 2012, spending will slide to $28.4 billion. Is there hope for this proud medium?
Newspaper circulation continues to deteriorate as people increasingly go online for news that is timelier and free. And the relatively high fixed costs of paper, printing and distribution show no signs of waning.
And there is little relief online, where newspaper revenues are dropping as well. eMarketer estimates that even Internet revenues dipped slightly in 2008, 0.4% to $3.15 billion.
In my humble opinion – the newspaper may not be around in another few years. And why would it? Look at what the internet did to the travel agent industry. They’ve for the most part..gone the way of the dodo bird. Same thing will happen to the newspaper as they no longer provide a relavent service at current price points.
