United States newspapers' print advertising sales fell the most on record in the first quarter of this year, tumbling 14 per cent thanks to the shrinking real estate and job markets, and the loss of business to the internet.
Advertisers spent US$8.43 billion on newspaper ads inthe first three months, says the Newspaper Association of America, the eighth drop in a row. Real estate and recruitment ads fell 35 per cent.
Many of the biggest advertisers in real estate, automotive and employment are shifting advertising to their own websites, says Kip Cassino from media consulting firm Borrell Associates. "This stuff isn't going to online intermediaries, because if it were there would be three or four enormous sites for each of these categories. It's going to companies that say, 'I can do my own advertising'."
Newspapers' websites aren't attracting enough dollars to pick up the slack.
