The migration from print to online for news and business information has pushed down the money made from print ads.

In the distant past of 1995, InfoWorld was my primary source of technology information. I found that by following the magazine, and never missing a Bob Metcalfe or Stewart Alsop column, my tech education was progressing nicely. I even discovered that I was better informed than my superiors, and that helped me move up the IT food chain.

An InformationWeek article reminds me of how far the Internet has gained in importance for tech information. That article notes how revenue for the news and trade markets grew 8.7 percent in 2004, but will likely be half that in 2005.

That doesn’t come as much of a mystery to those following the online advertising industry. Jupiter Research noted last month that revenue from search engine ads will double within five years to nearly $19 billion.

Yahoo had more than $1 billion in online ad revenue in the first quarter of 2005; that rose to $1.25 billion for the second quarter. Google’s second quarter ad revenues were slightly higher at $1.36 billion. All that money comes at the expense of other media outlets, as the print world has seen.

Part of that change has happened as users switched from waiting for the weekly trade journal to arrive to going online for answers. Search engines like Google and Yahoo turn up multiple sources for pretty much every tech issue that exists.

Sites (besides the two mentioned) supported by advertising revenue, and blogs created by individual users, have picked up that traffic. According to research firm Outsell's Market View report, individuals are spending 15 percent less on printed news and trade journals than they did in 2001.

The article discusses how the news and trade industries have seen print ad revenue drop, and that lower cost online ads aren't covering those losses. As online ads gain in importance, a rise in their rates will eventually offset that print ad revenue loss.

InformationWeek doesn't touch on one aspect of individuals and their purchasing habits, as they might relate to publications like themselves and InfoWorld. That aspect would be outsourcing. As tech companies have aggressively placed jobs in low-cost countries, American employees have found themselves changing fields. Why would someone keep buying tech magazines when embarking on a new career?

With fewer prospects for tech employment in the US, fewer students choose to enter the computer science fields in college. That leads to fewer tech trade readers, print or online, which now impacts print advertising to a much greater degree.

Broadband penetration in the US market has given more households the means to access high-bandwidth video content. News organizations like CBS and CNN have been racing with others to meet that demand, and monetize it via advertising. They can meet the higher expectations of an audience that no longer finds print as compelling a medium. Print media will have to adjust its revenue expectations to match the change in demand.

I would state that, If you can deliver a newspaper to people at the start of the day, the package of information and analysis is far better than either television or the net.

In US and other western countries, maybe search engines like Google,Yahoo crushes Print Ad Revenue but here in India, I believe, Internet is still lagging behind as far as ad revenues are concerned and print media has totally to rely more on print ad revenues. Internet is not a substitute for print but a medium to be used intelligently and how a user vie to net depends on what he wants. People don't see the Internet in any way replacing the print media - they see it as an add-on. Four-five years ago, we were told that nobody will read the newspaper any more. All that nonsense has stopped now. I haven't seen any advertising interest in the Internet and, in fact, more and more advertising people are talking of the revenue model. Most dotcoms don't have a revenue model. Our Ad manager would contact for print ads and there's no specific revenue model for the web as no advertiser is keen to place online ads. Moreover, print media has various alternate ways for generating ad revenues through competitions, sms schemes, bargain ads, etc. Even the so called citi bank and shadi or any affiliation do not earn revenue to website owner though the ads reflect on a website with more traffic pouring in day by day. These ads you see on many websites pay peanuts as compared to the web costs incurred to keep the dot com presence.

Google is the only honest and fair ad sense that gives sense on web in terms of generating ad revenue! Even this comes a hard way!!!

Regarding, quote: individuals are spending 15 percent less on printed news and trade journals than they did in 2001, here the situation seems different. Here, Advertisers are found to be keener on supplements that come alongwith Newspapers that's 'free'. There is more potential in ad revenue in print than web. And inspite of newspaper competitions, newspaper has a niche market as also magazines as things are much cheaper here - a cup of coffee cost Rs.50 and a magazine Rs.30/- and likewise its much easier read for a newspaper at liesure paying Rs.2.50 per copy (24 pages or more) rathar than connect the net. Advertisers find their consumers in print media and no google nor yahoo can crush print media revenue, I guess!

- ilaxi
Edited my mod Webnauts. Links to you web site may only be in your signature.