Internet has become a major news source for any kind of news from anywhere in the world in any language. Online news versions are easy to surf and readers can get the required news just by a click besides access to various reliable sources that is not possible with traditional newspapers. As a result, online readers increased by 8.6 million people last year, according to comScore Plan Metrix.
Noticing the shift in the news readership, advertisers also started to switch to Internet. Traditional newspaper ad revenue dropped unprecedentedly and online ad sales increased.
Decrease in Traditional Newspaper Readership:
The overall readership of print newspapers has decreased due to the increased popularity of the online news. The overall readership of print newspapers is down by 11% last year from 86.4 million to 76.7 million, according to comScore Plan Metrix. On the other hand the number of visitors to online news categories increased by 5% in the same period and the total number of online news readers increased by 8.6 million people.
Print Readers and Online Visitors:
When we compare the readership according to their views online and print, the people who read only print newspapers decreased by 12% compared to last year and the people who visit sites to read newspapers increased by 26%. However readers don’t seem to look for news in non-newspaper sources online, as they have access to a variety of information online unlike in an edition of traditional newspaper.
Ad Spending:
Ad spending in print newspapers is gradually decreasing due to constantly decreasing readership. Increasing popularity of news websites has lead the increase of online ad revenues totaled $23.4 billion in 2008 from $21.2 billion posted in 2007, a change of 10.6%, according to a report from Borrell Associates. The total traditional newspaper advertising revenue fell 16.6% in 2008, and classifieds advertising, under the pressure of online ventures fell up to 30%.
Surfing through the web in the mornings for the news has become a regular activity for the people. Not only youngsters but also elder people have started using the web for news updates at any point of time in a day. As a result advertisers decreased ad spending in traditional newspapers while increasing online advertising.
