Classified advertising has all but collapsed for many newspapers, down from $17 billion in 2005 to less than $1 billion today. Why? Blame online alternatives like Craigslist.<BR><BR>Online classified ads are growing in popularity among Internet-using adults, sapping newspapers of a major revenue source. The shift isn't surprising, though, given the demographics of those who use such ads.<BR><BR><a href='http://meincmagazine.com/web/news/2009/05/users-switch-to-online-classifieds-leaving-papers-in-the-dust.ars'>Read the whole story</a>
Users switch to online classifieds, leave papers in the dust
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
No wonder. Craigslist is much more convenient than the local newspaper's classified section.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
From $17 billion to less than a billion in three years? That doesn't seem possible. Has there ever been another industry to collapse <I>that</I> rapidly? The Pony Express maybe, but I can't see a 90+% drop in classifieds three years when my local daily still has a fat classified ads section. Between cheaper ad rates, declining circulation, and fewer ads, I could easily see a 50% drop, but this is close to a 95% collapse in revenue in three years -- and the remaining core newspaper readers are nothing if not hidebound.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
The drop in revenue doesn't surprise me. I used to browse the classified when I was younger looking for computers and musical instruments. I remember there being a column or more of listings in the city paper. Recently I looked at that section and there were no more than a dozen listings and then an ad to see more listings online.<BR><BR>Also, the classified include not just products and services, but job listings, real estate postings, personals, messages, and legal notices. Job listings are being taken over my monster, linked in, and craigslist. Real estate is way easier to find out about online. Personals are taken over by all the friend finder sites as well as facebook. Messages would now be passed through social networking sites. I think legal notices are the last bastion since there are court requirements that they be printed in the newspaper, but I imagine even that requirement will be revisited soon.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Must have something to do with online classified's offering about a million times as much room to many more people then a newspaper could ever hope to.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
There's a pretty big error in this article. Pew's PDF says newspaper classified revenue has dropped to $9,975 (million). That's roughly $10 billion, not $1 billion.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Yes, ThePimpOfSound has it right. Revenue fell from $17,312 million to $9,975 million, or a fall of $7,337 million. About a 38% drop.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
I'm not sure why, but I'd still be reluctant to hire home service people -- chimneysweep, landscaper, tree removal -- from Craigslist. Something about those little "business card" ads -- especially the ones you come to recognize over the weeks (yeah, talking a weekly here, no big city daily in this area) -- seem to offer some assurance of stability and connection to the region.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Arnos78:<BR>Must have something to do with online classified's offering about a million times as much room to many more people then a newspaper could ever hope to. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Well except for the fact that some local papers are both offering online websites of their own and ePapers (complete with the classifieds) as well.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by barkingcat:<BR>Yes, ThePimpOfSound has it right. Revenue fell from $17,312 million to $9,975 million, or a fall of $7,337 million. About a 38% drop. </div></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>The numbers in the post have been updated. Thanks.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Hmm, I remember working for a company that attempted to unite/bring online print classifieds to the web, AdOne Classifieds.. I think they got bought out by a newspaper organization or something, never did find out what happened to it.. But either way, competing against free is pretty darned hard, and Craig is one of those hacker sorts who doesn't really care about getting ridiculous amounts of money, just enough to get by and hack and hang out and do fun stuff from time to time, and the old-school newsies just don't grok it at all.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Newspapers could offer something to compete with Craigslist, but they don't. It could be a higher-class version of Craigslist--better accountability of the sellers, choice of print and on-line, advertising of your postings, etc.<BR><BR>The news organizations do have on-line classifieds but have you ever tried to use it (either post or search)? Craigslist is much easier.<BR><BR>They need to compete and compete hard, which means they need to be at least as easy to use as Craigslist, but offer a lot more services.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Great reminder about online classified ads. That report is a dream come true for all those small business owners and sales professionals who whine they don't have enough people to sell to. Now there's absolutely no excuse.<BR><BR>Pick your target demograhic, write your ad, create an offer they can't refuse, bring ad readers to a lead generation web page and bingo high-quality sales leads coming to you.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Very interesting article. I am part of a team that is currently launching a new online classifieds site, upillar.com [http://upillar.com] - which aims to take the place of printed classifieds, and offer a better user experience than craigslist. Check it out and let us know what you think- http://www.upillar.com.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
- Status