Local TV News Stations Face Advertising Crisis. Whoops.
April 3rd, 2008 | by Brad King |The Internet Advertising Bureau has a series of studies on its site that track the local ad market throughout the last few years. There’s loads of information, but the one fact that stood out: the local online advertising economy was expected to sustain local papers and television stations.
By last year, it was clear that wouldn’t happen.
There were only two solutions to the problem: consolidate local news operations and sell national advertising across the platform (which is hard) or create a better product.
Either way, the local print and television markets were expected to hold during this transition. Uh, whoops.
Automotive TV advertising fell to $7.6 billion in 2007, a drop of 8.3 percent from the year before, according to research firm TNS Media Intelligence. The decline has been even steeper in the first three months of 2008, according to analysts.
The story goes where this story always goes: more money is moving online as advertisers look for a more substantial return on their investment. That means following — and tracking — the crowd.
For some time, I figured the local television news sites would be okay since they already have access to a wide variety of audio, video and text. That puts them ahead of newspapers in terms of content.
They also deal with ever-changing technologies. That should give them a leg up too.
Apparently, not so much. I’ve given a few talks at television conferences — and the reaction is much the same as what I get when I talk to print reporters: bewilderment.
We’re about to reach the tipping point, I think, when the media world shifts radically — and suddenly — online. We’re already watching the beginning of the contraction happen.
Now we’re seeing the economic squeeze.
