This is a very clear stat, from “Circulation Dropping” – a site that monitors publishing.
Revenue for newspaper websites, year 2004, aggregate:
$1.19 billion, with nearly half that amount coming from classifieds.
Revenue for google adwords, year 2004:
$3.143 billion;roughly half that amount on google, the other half on third-party websites (the adsense program).
Likelihood of only newspaper classifieds growing 25% this year, given the lower costs and better reach offered by others?
0.
I believe the 25% growth figure is a nod to the growth of paid search. Paints a pretty bleak picture for newspapers’ online growth, but I think in fact there is hope. Papers are centers of the community, and even with craigslist and Google, they can make hay there if they watch their costs and leverage their position. Will they overtake the platforms? No. But they can beat craigslist by joining em….