Newspapers’ new boss: Google
Saul Hansell reports in The Times on Google’s test of a new advertising sales marketplace for newspapers.
Is it a good idea? Of course, it is. It is an idea the newspaper industry should have taken on itself 10, no 20 ago. It’s not just about the internet. It’s about finding ways to serve small local advertisers with self-serve sales and new locally focused products. It’s also about finding ways to bring together newspapers into national networks that can sell demographically targeted ads to new marketers. Oh, the industry tried with the doomed New Century Network but it failed because newspaper people are used to working in monopolies; they are not used to thinking like their customers or working together. And that is a major reason they are now in free fall. It’s not the internet’s fault. It’s their fault.
And turning over ad sales to Google — strengthening Google over their own brands, as Hansell’s story points out — only reveals the bankruptcy of their own strategies and soon businesses. Oh, if I were running a newspaper (fat chance), I’d probably sign on, too, because there’s little time and less choice. But it is only an indication of what Google can do and newspapers can’t.
Tags: Ad, Business, Internet, newspapers
November 6th, 2006 at 11:41 am
The thousands of newspapers in the US, from the smallest that lack resources or have their cash flow already allocated elsewhere, to the biggest ones that are stuck in financial models that have huge debt interest or dividend payments or most newspapers that simply don’t have the culture to innovate on the web side in a cost effective manner have no chance against a single well financed company like Google that has none of these problems.
I don’t have much hope that a distributed group of newspaper owners will somehow get together on this.
November 6th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
[...] Jeff Jarvis' BuzzMachine seconds that emotion asks a similar question, notices that newspapers have finally come around though it seems he thinks it's too little, too late: Is it a good idea? Of course, it is. It is an idea the newspaper industry should have taken on itself 10, no 20 ago. It’s not just about the internet. It’s about finding ways to serve small local advertisers with self-serve sales and new locally focused products. It’s also about finding ways to bring together newspapers into national networks that can sell demographically targeted ads to new marketers. [...]
November 6th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Hi Jeff,
As I mention in my post comparing blogger reactions to the Google move (see trackback), I’m curious how you might relate it to the idea of the outsourced newspaper you posted last week. Thoughts?
November 7th, 2006 at 7:50 am
[...] Yesterday, I ranted about newspapers’ failure to invent new ways to serve advertisers, ceding the business to Google. Today I read on Greenslade a discussion of classifieds, Google, and newspapers at the Society of Editors. There is the usual debate in such gatherings: Is Google a friend or foe? I say that’s the wrong question. They should be asking: What is Google doing that we should be doing? How can we be doing it? What will Google do next? Can we get there first? And what can Google do that we can’t and how do we take advantage of that? Google is a reality. Arguing about whether it is friend or foe will do no more good than sitting back and watching it do what you should be doing. Google is still trying to figure out its proper role in this ecosystem. Read the last paragraph from Greenslade’s report to see that: Classified advertising could vanish from newspaper print editions by the year 2020, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger suggested to the Society of Editors in Glasgow. [...]