I’ve been meaning to post on the newspaper business for some time, and a couple of recent articles have pushed me over the line.
Newpaper ad sales are falling of a cliff.
Newspaper ad sales during the first quarter shrank 28.3%, or $2.6 billion, from where they were during the same quarter a year ago, according to a new slew of statistics from the Newspaper Association of America. The worst decline ever… 2009 revenues will likely come in lower than $30 billion, less than they did in 1987…
- Print ad sales declined 29.7% to $5.9 billion…
- Online sales down 13.4% to $696.3 million
- Classifieds down 42.3% to $1.5 billion…
- Ad sales collapse 16.6% to $37.8 billion in 2008.
- Employment advertising shrank 67.4% to $205.4 million…
- Real Estate down 45.6% to $336.9 million
- Auto down 43.4% to $332.8 million…
- National campaigns down 25.9% to $1.1 billion…
- Retail down 23.7% to $3.3 billion…
- “Other” down 16.5% to $587.7 million
At the same time, the private world-wide community classified site Craig’s List is believed to have achieved record revenues of $100m with just 30 employees according to a new study from Classified Intelligence Report.
The Internet classified ads company, which promotes its “relatively noncommercial nature” and “service mission” on its site, is projected to bring in more than $100 million in revenue this year… That is a 23 percent jump over the revenue the firm estimated for 2008 and a huge increase since 2004, when the site was projected to bring in just $9 million… Craigslist… has just 30 employees.
Network television will follow newspapers down the drain.
