Online newspapers,
once thought to be the only viable future for news media are no longer
providing the comfort they once did. As offline ad revenues decline and cover
price wars continue to cause major worries for print newspapers, publishers
turned to their online siblings to help pick up the slack and for a while it
was working. At first, many of the advertising dollars that left offline media
just migrated online. It was the same media buyers talking to the same ad-sales
personnel just about a different medium. In other words there was no
advertising crisis, just a movement away from a tired medium towards a fresh
and exciting one.
But, like
the wrapping for today’s fish and chips, that is all yesterday’s news. In the
UK the continuing depression in the property market combined with ongoing
uncertainties in the job market has hit ad sales right where it hurts – in the
classifieds. For too long now, newspaper publishers have depended on a booming
property market and a healthy turnover of staff in key areas to ensure that
they meet their targets. This report
shows the problems facing the UK’s largest newspaper group, Trinity Mirror.
While the
forecasts for the next few quarters are no brighter, I like to think that this downturn
represents an opportunity for publishers rather than their end. No can say for
sure whether the property market will return to its former heights, but
publishers can use this time to regroup and think about what they really have
to offer online. One of their key investments should be in video. No other
online medium has the same power to persuade and encourage users to act.
I believe
that as online publishers emerge from the current funk they will embrace video
as the best solution for their advertisers knowing that it is the medium most
likely to convert and provide value to those advertisers. At the same time,
advertisers are turning to video as the most effective way of delivering a
branded message with a precision-targeted call to action to each and every
viewer.
Online video
is the right solution for advertisers and publishers alike as they try to make
sense of the current turmoil. The implementation of online video ads with measurable
ROI will establish new models of publisher integrity which will rebuild
confidence across all advertising sectors.
When the
dust settles, people will be watching video and increasing numbers of them will
be clicking on the embedded link.