On March 15, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that, according to TNS Media Intelligence, advertisers in 2004 spent $24.5 billion on ads in local papers, and $7.4 billion on Internet ads.
Today, the Chronicle reported that “According to the Newspaper Association, newspapers’ online ad revenue grew 26.7 percent to $1.5 billion last year, compared with print ad revenue’s growth of 3.9 percent to $46.7 billion.” The piece also quotes John Lavine of the Readership Institute at Northwestern University saying “Last year, the Net accounted for $9.5 billion” in total advertising revenue.
Ummmmm, let’s recap. Newspapers took in $24.5 billion in ad revenues last year … or was it $46.7 billion … whereas online ad revenue totaled $7.4 billion … or was it $9.5 billion, only $1.5 billion of which flowed to newspapers?
What-ever!
–Steve Lovelady
Steve Lovelady was editor of CJR Daily.