Comments on: Online advertising: newspapers never even tried

By: Shafqat

Shafqat — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:16:38 +0000

Nice recap. Perhaps you could do a roundup on all the news stories about shutting down Google News and similar aggregators. You make some great points about SEO. I’m still looking to gather some data to show how much traffic news sites get via organic search traffic. I would wager its 50% or more. I’ve been hearing this meme of “shut down the aggregators” quite a bit recently – seems like some news websites get too much traffic, and they want to slow it down.

BTW, I’m willing to bet that an aggregator, if it’s executed brilliantly and delights its users, can actually charge for the value they add. That will surely piss off the original news creators, who believe they are creating all the value. But if aggregators are adding value and making money, instead of shutting them down, why don’t news organizations learn some lessons and try to replicate? Just a thought…

By: Nathaniel E. Baker

Nathaniel E. Baker — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:09:55 +0000

There may be some truth to this, but one big problem with ads is that people can easily block them in their browsers. And even if they show up there is no proof that they work. So while it may be true that newspapers have not tried hard enough to sell ads online, the truer part is that the model itself requires complete re-thinking.

I suppose that leaves us back at square one.

I think the only way newspapers can generate revenue online is by following a cable tv model for charging for content. Have all of the nation’s newspapers join together and invest in a portal where their news is published. But have it published there only. Offer different rates of subscriptions based on what users want to read and distribute revenues accordingly.

By: Howard Owens

Howard Owens — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:46:56 +0000

I tried like hell in Ventura to get our “sales people” in Ventura to sell web ads. We offered HUGE commissions, and they still didn’t sell.

We trained them, too.

But ad sales people work entirely out of self interest, and they never saw it in their interest to sell ads for online.

Don’t blame online execs at newspapers or the publishers for newspaper sales staff not selling ads — the staffs actively and aggressively resisted selling online.

My experience in Ventura is not unique. It’s the story throughout the industry.

That’s why I say a separate online sales staff, that can aggressively go after all available business. These people can’t (as a general rule) come from a newspaper sales background. They need to come from media where sales people actually need to SELL (not just take orders), which means radio and shoppers. A shopper sales rep is thrilled to sell a $200 ad. A newspaper rep won’t even entertain the notion.

By: Tracy @ WSB

Tracy @ WSB — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:46:04 +0000

Yes, yes, and yes. It’s not just newspapers, by the way. I worked in TV since before the consumer Interwebs took hold and I can tell you I saw online advertising deliberately devalued time and time again. If pursued at all, it was a throwaway addition to what the sales staff considered the “real deal.” Also – and I must find this clip sometime soon before I cite it again – one of the local newspaper executives here actually said, in a discussion videotaped by our city cable channel, that newspapers TAUGHT advertisers to devalue online advertising. That is exactly what happened. The ONLY reason it is going for less and considered to be worth less, is that the big media told advertisers that’s how to regard it. We sell DISPLAY advertising on our neighborhood-news site. Not clickthrus, not conversions, but good old-fashioned display advertising. We are the first in this city to make our entire living doing that. And our advertisers tell us it works. Our “readers” tell us they use the ads as ways to find and learn about local businesses. We have much room to grow and to do a better job helping both of those groups connect with each other, and we will do that, but for now, it’s not broken, and I wince every time I see some expert somewhere proclaim online advertising is dead, display advertising doesn’t work, and so on.