ON-LINE NEWS SET TO TAKE OVER FROM TRADITIONAL PRINTED NEWS

2009-01-06 23:10:04 - MANILA. Advertisers looking at internet news to target audiences

It is already happening around the world, in the US many traditional newspapers have already gone to the wall with others in desperate straits.

In Europe, Australia and many parts of Asia a similar pattern emerges, the day of the printed newspaper is numbered.

This is not to say that broadsheets and tabloids will disappear overnight, we are still several years away from that. However, the numbers are set to contract significantly in the very near future, and with that will see a growth in on-line advertising with a corresponding drop in advertising spend on the printed press.

With the present credit crunch, many banks around the world have needed their governments to bail them out, similarly, car makers are going with the begging bowl outstretched. What is not generally realised is that many US newspapers are probably going to approach Washington for emergency funding.

This is also going to occur in many other countries.

Unless the lobbying is very successful, these attempts are almost certainly doomed to fail. Banks are crucial to keep the economies alive, car makers employ directly and indirectly millions with more "downstream" employment dependent.

The same is not true of the news industry.

This is where the explosion in internet news is set to rocket, and with it the advertising revenue to increase dramatically.

An old adage in advertising is that only 50% of advertising works but that nobody can work out which 50% works. With internet news, advertisers can target their audience with more skill.

Already Google has hit into traditional television advertising revenues, and advertisers see that target based adverts offer more value for money. This trend will increase dramatically.

General newspapers are seeing their revenue falling, along with cover sales, as an increasingly internet savvy population are going online for their news and not buying at news stands.

A leading UK tabloid some years ago cut down its internet news feed in a desperate attempt to bring back sales of the printed version. The paper in question is The Sun, part of the Murdoch empire, which saw its internet version see a massive growth in popularity. Unfortunately, this was mirrored by a corresponding drop in print sales of a 100,000 per day.

Alarmed at this, the internet news content was cut down dramatically to get people buying the paper at the cover price. Reality though suggests this kind of action is only delaying the inevitable. Many of the world's broadsheets have recognised this trend already, and are flowing along this route, although with some charging a subscription fee for premium content.

In the main, those who allow free access to their news sites will ultimately be the winners in terms of hits, views and of course advertising revenue.