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Has The Web Pulled The Ad Plug On Print Media?

By Craig Altschul
September 07, 2007

The Wall Street Journal recently cited examples: The New York Times Company's news media division ad revenues dropped 6.8 percent; Gannett (USA Today and 85 other newspapers) dropped 9.9 percent, and McClatchy (31 dailies) fell 11.5 percent. All those dips were reported in May. It's not only advertising. Newspaper stocks have been in a tailspin because of declining readership. The Society of Professional Journalists is focusing its convention next month on "the seismic shift to online" news.

Is this shift to the Web playing out along parallel lines in the mountain resort and travel industry? Apparently so.

"We have seen a dramatic switch from print to online advertising over the past two seasons," Mountain News Internet Director and Managing Partner Chad Dyer told The Industry Report. (Mountain News is the publisher of this e-letter.)

"The trend has been accelerated in the mountain travel industry by an influx of younger marketing and advertising professionals parachuting into the industry who enter with a pro-Internet attitude," Dyer said. "These executives need no convincing that skiers and snowboarders are going online for the information they need and most are no longer looking to newspapers and magazines. The research is overwhelming and they are not ignoring it.

"The only surprise we see is the hesitation of the manufacturing sector of the snowsports industry to make the shift away from traditional magazine advertising in any dramatic way, but that will presumably follow suit," Dyer said.

There are trends that portend continuing success for online publishing. Pam Horan, president of the Online Publishers Association, sums up her group's research showing viewers spending more time than ever before with online content because of new online features and communities.

"Consumers spend considerable time with social networking sites, which serve not only as places of content, but are also increasingly important communications vehicles," she says. Horan credits a more accessible, much faster, Internet; the increased popularity of video; the improvement in search vehicles; and the obvious fact that the Web simply offers more content than it did even a few years ago.

The video availability as a lure to spending time online is backed by newly released OPA research. That data indicates "over 40 percent of Web visitors watch online videos on at least a weekly basis; over 70 percent at least monthly." Here's perhaps a surprise: The average age of all those tuning into video is 39. The last time we checked, that doesn't qualify as either a teen or young adult, the presumed biggest Internet consumers.

Mountain News added daily video to its OnTheSnow site for this season Dyer said. The Web site's community blog, allowing skiers and riders to write their own reviews of ski resort visits and comment on those posts of others, has grown exponentially to the point where it is a significant part of a site's "stickiness."

The future? It isn't going to get any better in the print arena. An August report from Nielsen/NetRatings says the vast majority of people who visit the top monthly magazine Web sites (a stunning 83 percent) don't read those magazine's print counterparts. There was little difference between respondents 18-44 and among those 45 and up.

Need more? Don't take a job responsible for newspaper advertising. The Financial Times is reporting that "the rapid growth of online advertising is expected to see the sector overtake U.S. newspaper advertising in terms of size."

The Times cited a 2007 study by Veronis Suhler Stevenson (a "widely watched annual research report") that forecasts a growth of online advertising of 21 percent to $62 billion by 2011. That is expected to top newspaper advertising revenues then by at least $2 billion. Broadcast TV, cable, and satellite advertising will top the spending list at $86 billion.

VSS forecaster noted that the amount of time spent by U.S. consumers reading newspapers will be overtaken by their time spent online this year. The shift from print to online is not just in U.S. markets. Newspapers are expected to be overtaken by online advertising this year in the UK and Sweden.

Is it translating? The Industry Report caught up with Jane Cheney of the Gunnison, Colo., Tourism Association late Friday afternoon as she was setting up for a weekend festival. She had time only for a brief response to the subject, but it was telling.

"We have gradually been reducing our print advertising, not just in newspapers, but in all print media over the past few years," Cheney said. "Those dollars are moving to the Web."

What's your take on the subject? You may post your thinking right here, right now.

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Comments

While I understand that 'horizontal' or mass-media dollars are moving from print to online, I believe 'vertical' dollars (niche dollars) in print are still extremely important to snowsports branding. Does anyone really want the ski and snowboad publications to go away? Does anyone think they aren't relevant to supporting and bolstering the culture? Our challenge at Aspen/Snowmass has really been finding ways to melt the worlds together and have a unified message in print and the web. In fact, last year's print campaign was designed to test the effectiveness of print in this web-heavy world. The ads drove readers to a designated website and the results blew away our expectations...and the only way anyone heard about the website was in print. My two cents? Don't make your snowsports marketing decisions based on the ad trends of the WSJ & NYT. While the web is an important place to extend your brand, print dollars in niche/core publications are still dollars well spent. Steve Metcalf Senior Marketing Manager Aspen/Snowmass

Posted by: Steve Metcalf | September 11, 2007 10:57 AM

Yes, I tend to agree. Although the national dailies are down, local dailies are actually up in circ, due to people's continued interest in their own communities. As a media director,I see this over-excitement about the web from clients all the time. The thing to remember is that the web is a great vehicle for niches etc, however, if you want to build reach rapidly, you cannot beat television or print - especially when you need to target specific geographies. Many times, the best course is usually to combine web, print and TV to create an integrated campaign that reaches your target regardless of their preferred medium. Jonathan Bouman Lake Placid, NY

Posted by: Jonathan Bouman AdWorkshop | September 13, 2007 06:09 AM

According the National Newspaper Association daily readership is down 10% over the last 10 years in the top 50 media markets. It's not just the national dailies suffering declines. http://www.naa.org/marketscope/pdfs/Daily-Trends-TotalPop-98-07.pdf Nothing beats television if you need to reach a mass audience very quickly, but mass media is a challenging marketing environment for the mountain travel industry. Take the New York DMA as an example. According to Scarborough Research only 6.2% of newspaper readers have actively skied or snowboarded in the last twelve months. While TV checks in at 4.4%. From a ski marketing perspective this means roughly 95% of the audience you are purchasing may not be a prospect. Vertical Internet sites with strong audited audience can provide strong targeted reach in a market very efficiently. For example OnTheSnow.com reaches a comparable audited number of NY skiers as the NY Times, NY Post, NY Daily News, and NY Newsday. However, every marketing dollar spent reaches a pure skier/rider in that DMA. Here is some interesting research on newspaper readership by the Project on Journalism Excellence. The site offers great research and trends on all forms of media. http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/2007/narrative_localtv_audience.asp?cat=2&media=7

Posted by: Chad Dyer - Mountain News | September 21, 2007 03:35 PM