Many of the ever-embattled national, regional and big local newspapers are facing the same problem in their online ventures: diminished impressions for their advertising clients. In the face of low ROI, many have turned to low-balling ad networks — in hopes of getting a nickel where they were preciously getting zilch. But non-traditional media companies seem to be fairing better in the online space. We decided to take a look at the situation.
The issue was brought to our attention (for the 500th time) after we read Sunday’s New York Times piece, “Newspapers’ Web Revenue Is Stalling“.
The story eludes to the newspapers’ woes in entering the online space, namely the lack of return they’re seeing from their Web news sites — which many had hoped would be a saving grace in the face of horrendous ad sales in print. Not so, it seems, for media companies like McClatchy, which is reportedly decreasing inventory and ad sizes online. And they’re not alone — at least among other newspaper owners. But will attempts like this actually increase demand, or just delay the inevitable?
We spoke with mediabistro’s (which owns this blog) Director of Advertising Sales, Varinda Missett, who is relatively new to the company but has 15 years experience in print ad sales. Our hope was to get a feel for how this non-traditional media company is doing compared to what we read about in the Times.
She said she’s seen an increase in sales, but isn’t predicting gangbusters just yet. However, clients are increasingly coming to her for two reasons: First is mediabistro’s niche market of media professionals, who utilize the blog network, jobs and events boards et cetera. But they also reach out when they want to give an event one final push; Missett references events that go undersold. She said that because companies are cutting costs across the board, seminars, classes, and week long events are routinely undersold — and clients can benefit from MB’s community if three days before an event they’re in dire straits.
This story is sounding ultra-masturbatory, we know. But we used MB as an example to illustrate the point that advertisers are, in some cases, hyper-focusing their media buys to where their dollars will be most effective. Still others will retrench into more traditional methods, but unwisely so, says Ashley Swartz. We’re putting together a compendium of Swartz’s thoughts on media spending for later this week, be sure to read it, and weigh in.
But getting back to newspapers, it seems like no matter what they do, the once-paper-and-ink medium can’t seem to catch a break. Even after migrating online, cutting back on bureaus and making their writers take their own photos, ROI just isn’t…well, returning. What does this suggest about the industry as a whole? Clearly, it’s just too slow.
Take blogging as another example. Quick story turn-around gives the blog the same power as 24-hour cable news programs. Blogs are niche. Newspapers by comparison try to be overly general so they can appeal to a mass audience (albeit with niche info). Newspapers (even online versions) still post content on a relevancy basis. Blogs stream content from top to bottom, sometimes holding the top spot for important news — but mostly letting things flow and counting on links to other sites to keep their news circulating. Newspapers have an internal hierarchy that can be likened to the military. Blogs are generally one or two sweaty people sitting in a basement. Flexibility is key.