Studies are showing that the struggle online newspapers have faced for the past few years in getting paid for online content may be leading them towards just that. While many online publications have announced plans for paid models, another study shows that much more advertising is headed for the online world. In addition, it seems that online video advertising is on the rise.
It’s Time for Paid Content, say Online Newspapers
E-Marketer has revealed that a significant number of online newspapers are considering charging for their content. Citing the preliminary results of a study for the American Press Institute, conducted by ITZ Publishing and Belden Interactive, as many as 60 percent of member publishers polled were considering charging for content that was, at the time, available for free online. One-quarter expected to have a paid model in place within the next six months.
When asked to give their reasons to adopt a paid content strategy, North American newspaper executives were most concerned with capturing new revenue opportunities (34 percent). Next on the list of importance was preserving print circulation (28 percent), followed by a much-cited reason: establishing value for copyrighted content (18 percent).
Newspapers Can Capture Online Ad Spending
A recent article by Bill Mitchell of Poynter.org suggests that ad spending is about to move in a dramatic way from print publications to online. This would mean, according to Mitchell, that the gap between the amount of information people read online (which is said to be 30 percent), and the amount of advertising currently online (said to be just eight percent of all advertising budgets in the UK), is about to close.
The study Mitchell quotes, which was recently presented at a Yale conference, was conducted by Penelope Muse Abernathy and Richard Foster. The two produced these recommendations for traditional news publications to survive the move to online: Shed legacy costs as quickly as possible, re-create community online in an attempt to regain pricing leverage, and build new online advertising revenue streams to replace the loss of traditional print categories.
And What About Online News Videos?
Online video is an important part of online news sites as well, but the hype around it seems to have died down recently. It’s all gotten a bit confusing. CNN, for example, is dropping its live online-only newscasts, but has also said that online video advertising has grown, which a recent New York Times article also confirmed.
According to Regina McCombs, also on Poynter.org, online sports news videos are doing great, but other kinds of features, not so much. She suggests that while it’s difficult to predict which online video news features will take off, if the news sites get to know their audiences, they’ll be more likely to experience success.
Kaila Krayewski is a freelance journalist with a passion for all things internet. Having worked for nearly two years as the public relations manager for an internation search engine optimization company, and publishing hundreds of articles (how-to, informational, and otherwise) on SEO, she knows a thing or two about the field. Furthermore, having just started up her own website blondetraveler.com, she is doing her best to keep one step ahead of the search engines in order to keep the traffic flowing.
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