2009 advertising budgets - Newspaper vs. Online

I was interested in a column that recently ran in the Raleigh News and Observer, the metro daily here in the Triangle.  The columnist, John Drescher, touted their growth in readership. This initially struck me as odd considering the trends for print have been steadily down the past decade.

It didn't take long to realize that the growth included online readers and that the online increases were overcoming declines in print circulation.  That would coincide with the national trend that shows newspaper website readership up an average of 12% or more last year.  For some the growth was even more dramatic.  The LA Times saw their online audience jump an astounding 78% in 2008.

For years the Arts section of local dailies have been mainstays in advertising plans for museums and theatres.  But with every dollar being precious this year, keep this move of readership from print to online in mind.

If the local daily is going to be in your marketing plan, make sure you take advantage of the soft advertising market by negotiating a presence online as well as in print.  While the online readership is up, some surveys show newspaper advertising revenues down to their lowest levels since 1996.  And as I mentioned in an earlier post, the current economy is making most advertising outlets very willing to negotiate deals.

The time is right to get the most out of your budget and take advantage of those increases in web readership to make your ad dollars go further.