But, of course, charts only tell half the story. Here’s the other half:
$37.8 billion vs $21.1 billion
Want to take a guess at which one is newspapers’ ad revenue from 2008 and which one is Google’s?
Believe it or not, the bigger number–the one a healthy $16.7billion
higher is the newspaper industry’s. That’s right: Google’s bringing in
just over half what the newspapers haul in on print advertising alone.
Which makes the currentpublisher anger towards Google
more than a little disingenuous. Sure, Google’s share is growing and
newspapers’ is shrinking, blah blah blah. Five years ago, Google’s
entire revenue was a scant $3 billion. Newspapers’ print ad sales for
2004? $48.2 billion.
higher is the newspaper industry’s. That’s right: Google’s bringing in
just over half what the newspapers haul in on print advertising alone.
Which makes the currentpublisher anger towards Google
more than a little disingenuous. Sure, Google’s share is growing and
newspapers’ is shrinking, blah blah blah. Five years ago, Google’s
entire revenue was a scant $3 billion. Newspapers’ print ad sales for
2004? $48.2 billion.
Print: far from dead.
Here’s the root of the problem, really:
Newspaper execs talk with exasperation, as if they’ve tried everything
they can. But they define “everything” so narrowly that it renders the
word almost meaningless. In reality, as they watch their massive river
of money slowly shrink away, they’ve tried almost nothing. They had a
couple hundred year head start on Google, and yet they collapse in a
heap here at the dawn of a new age.
they can. But they define “everything” so narrowly that it renders the
word almost meaningless. In reality, as they watch their massive river
of money slowly shrink away, they’ve tried almost nothing. They had a
couple hundred year head start on Google, and yet they collapse in a
heap here at the dawn of a new age.
They didn’t want to fight for it. As if you get what you want any other way.
I am so looking forward to this conference on Saturday.
A.
butbutbut wall street wants MORE. wall street is all.
I think you should hold a “Dress Athenae For The Conference” contest, with you being obligated to go as the winning selection.Here’s my nominee.
While I couldn’t agree more firmly that the Newspapers are yutzes for closing down because they can only make a little, pidly, 30% ROI in these times when most people are loosing money,
I would caution that comparing a single industry (Google) to all newspapers will have trouble with passing statistical muster.