Loss Of Advertising Caused The Death of Newspapers

November 18th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Filed Under: 2009 Real Estate Forecast • Featured • Real Estate Internet • Real Estate Tools • real estate indicators

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Let’s face it, if you have been a real estate agent over the past decade you have spent money on newspaper advertising. Even if it did not work, it made you clients happy to see their home in the paper and gave the illusion of momentum towards a sale.

But then came this thing called the internet. It had websites that actually conveyed what the house was like besides 4bdrm,2.5b,garage, well you get the idea. Now we could show them pictures in color and video, have room for actual paragraphs and real information.

But to hear those in the newsroom they are being robbed of their birthright. What they forget is that you as the advertisers bought products that essentially did not work. They were a tool to add to your sales presentation because the customer thought they did.

Now, the consumer does not look in the Sunday paper for homes to buy, they go to the internet. That also goes for much of the advertising that goes on.

Back when I worked for a newspaper I was told, the editorial department works to create material so that people will be buying the advertising we sell. Those who did the writing scoffed at it, but you know what, they were right.

Now this lesson has come home to roost. We love to read the newspaper but it was the advertising that paid the bills.

The real revelation of the Internet is not what it has done to newspaper readership – it has in fact expanded it – but how it has sapped newspapers’ economic lifeblood. The most serious erosion has occurred in classified advertising, which once made up more than 40 percent of a newspaper’s revenues and more than half its profits. Classified advertisers didn’t desert newspapers because they disliked our political coverage or our sports sections, but because they had alternatives. Craigslist and eBay and dozens of other low-cost and no-cost classified sites began gobbling newspapers’ market share a few years ago. What they didn’t wipe out, the tanking economy did. During the first half of 2008, print classified advertising nosedived more than 25 percent, as withering job, real-estate and auto listings erased $1.8 billion in revenue from newspaper companies’ books. Newspapers have been uniquely hurt – television never had classifieds to lose.  from Wired.com.

Related posts:

1. 1 in 3 Buyers Now Come From The Internet
2. Los Angeles Times Real Estate Section “Put To Bed”
3. JD Powers Survey Shows 28 Percent Use Internet To Find An Agent
4. Tribune Goes Bankrupt - Reporters Blaming Zell
5. Real Estate Agents Spending Most Marketing Money On The Internet

There Are 8 Responses So Far. »

1. 

   Comment by Doug Quance on 18 November 2008:

   I couldn’t agree more.

   The newspaper has always “stuck” it to the real estate agent with rates that were much higher than the public at large had to pay… all because the paper knew we had to keep our clients happy.

   I quit advertising in the print media a few years ago. Print advertising quit working for me back in 2000. Even when I ran the ads, I told my clients it was a waste of money - because it was. Who is going to wade through those sorry ads with the Internet around?
2. 

   Comment by blackfoot on 20 November 2008:

   Everyone is ditching newspapers and uses the Internet as their main source of information, in a trend that could eventually see the demise of local papers. As online use has increased, the customers of older media have declined (i.e, newspaper).
3. 

   Comment by Eric Henneman on 21 November 2008:

   My business is in a rural area with high tourist traffic. People here know that the newspaper has very up-to-date ads–having some listings in those can generate great weekend activity. There is also a large # of retired people with interest in our market. As we know many folks of the older generations still love print. It’s the monthly prints that do us least good and the daily and weekly ads the generate the most phone calls. The internet is a great tool, but in a vacation/retirement area not everyone drags their laptops with them. Print still has a place in Deadwood South Dakota.
4. 

   Comment by Kevin Schmidtchen on 29 November 2008:

   This to me is a no brainer and if you have not understood this fact yet, you better start today. The hard part still is to convince your sellers that the print world is not the most effective means to advertise a property. Good agents will ultimately do a good sales job with their clients to educated them about this new reality.

   Blog: http://www.SantaBarbaraRealEstateVoice.com
5. 

   Comment by Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice on 8 December 2008:

   I am seeing more and more articles on this topic of late. It seemed that about 4-5 years ago this was not the case and that online advertising has reached a pinacle…but now more and more people are migrating their dollars to online for good reason. Just this morning I was reading an article about NBC and its woes with their newspapers under their umbrella.

   Time will tell.

6. Pingback by Real Estate Ads…Newspapers, etc « Ron Largent’s Weblog on 24 December 2008:

   [...] Even if it did not work, it made you clients happy to see their home in the paper and gave the illusion of momentum towards [...]

7. Pingback by Newspapers and Ads…and the Internet « Ron Largent’s Weblog on 24 December 2008:

   [...] Even if it did not work, it made you clients happy to see their home in the paper and gave the illusion of momentum towards [...]
8. 

   Comment by Vikas on 15 May 2009:

   According to a study commissioned by the California Association of Realtors, Internet homebuyers were reported to be wealthier and purchasing more expensive homes. Internet homebuyers bought a median priced home of $452,000 while traditional buyers purchased a median priced home of $310,000.

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