Online, and only online, to post ad gains

Media owners are being forced to face up to tough choices in the face of falling advertisement revenue - one of the first casualties of economic woe.

We all know the deal: staff are losing their jobs and offices are closing as executives struggle to survive, let alone produce a profit. The decision by Lord Heseltine's Haymarket Publishing to close Media Week and sack 18 staff, after nearly 25 years in print, highlights the struggle.
A swathe of well-established publishing houses have been forced to close titles globally, namely in North America and Europe. The closure of the last media office in Fleet Street - AFP in July - marked the end of an era and exemplified the gloomy situation.

The 150 year old Rock Mountain News, the 146 year old Seattle Post-Intelligence and South Africa's The Weekender are but a few of the closures. It was reported in The National that the latter's demise was unexpected dude to the lack of online exposure in the region. The former two and Media Week will continue to exist as slimed-downed online versions. Dozens of US titles have closed this year with the loss of more than 14,600 jobs, according to US website Paper Cuts. Financial consultant Deloitte predicted earlier this year that one in ten publications would close down in the UK, switch to online-only or be forced to close in 2009.

Rather than being the bearer of light and hope to journalists - creating new dynamism and roles in journalism - online news has traditionally been blamed as exacerbating the outlook that the need for journalists is plummeting. Most consumers will ask why they should pay for news when you can get it online for free? And owners must wonder why they should keep a newspaper going if the online operation is so much cheaper to run?

Indeed, recent figures from ZenithOptimedia show a jump in expected ad spending online. That, added to the push to charge for online content, could herald a new, more profitable era for online news sites, which currently, for the most part, struggle to turn a profit.
 
The report showed that the internet advertising forecast - an increase of more than 9 per cent -  is alone in posting gains as the global advertising spending would fall by 9.9 per cent in 2009, following a weaker first half than anticipated.

Publishers who continue to sideline online operations do so at their peril, and while strengthening non-print media may seem like a duplicity to the average hack, a successful operation should complement the product, and involve the editorial team across both platforms.