LAT pressman/blogger says paper will cease printing in 3 years...

The Web started reaching households roughly 17 years ago. Even to this day, there are many people who rarely use it or don't use it at all. It's true that most are older or very poor, but they need other forms of media. It's that group that will keep some level of print media around for 20 years.

 

We're either going to have flexible screens everywhere or go back to cuneiform.

 

Only if there is a revenue stream. And circulation for the sake of circulation isn't revenue.

 

Ding! Ding! Ding!

What I think newspaper publishers are missing when they sit around at Ruth's Chris and discuss their flailing industry...is that the generations now coming of age who never read a newspaper are also becoming the ad buyers at local companies...and it won't be long before the baby-boomers who have been placing those expensive, full-color, full-page furniture and car and home and movie ads are replaced by those buyers who would never consider spending thousands to advertise in newsprint.

 

Well, those baby-boomers directing ad purchases are doing so only because they work.

 

The great cliche you learn in every marketing class is "I waste half the money I spend on advertising, I just don't know which half". It is most frequently attributed to John Wanamaker but I have seen others credited. I think a lot of the advertisers who have stuck with print don't know what works. Who knows how many people look at a car dealers ad? Old habits die hard and I think many newspaper ads are habit buys.

 

Research, and they do a lot of research in advertising, indicates that print advertising still has the most impact in terms of return on investment and intent to buy by consumers, with Internet advertising last by a wide margin. The trick is getting people to pick up the printed product in the first place.

 

My suspicion is that today's major ad-buyers do plenty of research. Do you think that Toyota has some advice to its dealers about how to reach the public? Verizon Wireless? AT&T?

 

MG--- just typing that as you were ...