Thanks to Conversational Reading for pointing me towards this article in the Columbia Journalism Review comparing the value of Online and Print readers of newspapers.
- Annual Worth of a Print Reader to a newspaper: $940
- Annual Worth of a Online Reader to a newspaper: $46
As Ryan Chittum points out, “That means a print subscriber is worth more than 20 times the revenue an online reader is.”
Here’s more detailed numbers:
- Print ads took in $34.7 billion for 49 million readers annually
- Internet ads took in $3.1 billion for 807.6 million readers annually
So what’s with the pricing disparity between print ads and internet ads? Why are online readers so less valuable than print readers? And why haven’t more advertisers moved from print to online?
Certainly, the pricing model for online ads needs to change. Awarding money per click is a terrible way to sell ads. Would a billboard vendor charge on the basis on how many people call the number on the billboard, or the number of drivers per day on that freeway?
Ads need to be based on estimated traffic to the site, or set rates. And those ads rates should actually compare to print ads.
One thought on “Newspaper Ads Revenue Disparity”
Nice comment.
Terrence