Prime Publishing LLC

The Sharp Decline of Print Advertising

April 20 , 2012

Northbrook, IL — The end may be drawing near for printed publications as a new study conducted by the Newspaper Association of America reveals a stunning decline of nearly $40 billion in advertising revenue over the last 10-15 years.  The U.S. Newspaper Industry is designed to support approximately $50-60 billion worth of advertising, boding trouble considering they only pulled in about $20 billion in 2011. Newspaper companies are facing bankruptcies, job losses, and cutbacks from every direction, especially those who have not been able to successfully migrate over to the digital realm.

For many years, newspapers relied on their lead stories, natural disasters, war coverage, political scandal, and economic movement among others, to draw in the readers. Once they had a hook, readers would then thumb over to the advertising-supported sections, including the classified, automotive, travel, and style. Due to the booming popularity of the Internet, these former readers are seeking niche online markets to satisfy these avenues of information, bringing the print readership down in the process. Even though print ad revenue is tanking (see Exhibit 1 below), digital is thriving.  Email subscribers are the new home delivery customers, and with 2.9 billion active email accounts, that’s quite an opportunity.