Comments on: Google’s newspaper ad program a hit http://mathewingram.com/media/2006/12/28/googles-newspaper-ad-program-a-hit/ ...watching the intersection of the Web and media Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:18:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Mathew Ingram http://mathewingram.com/media/2006/12/28/googles-newspaper-ad-program-a-hit/#comment-169 Mathew Ingram Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:21:04 +0000 http://mathewingram.com/media/2006/12/28/googles-newspaper-ad-program-a-hit/#comment-169 John, I think (not surprisingly, perhaps) that you are wrong. Newspapers do not exist to sell advertising, nor is journalism a mechanism to sell advertising, and I think any newspaper that views its business in that way is making a huge mistake and will likely not last long, nor make much money. Content, whether accurate or sensationalist, is what drives the business -- that is, sells more copies -- and that helps bring in advertising that in turn pays for the trucks, satellites, my expense account, etc. John, I think (not surprisingly, perhaps) that you are wrong. Newspapers do not exist to sell advertising, nor is journalism a mechanism to sell advertising, and I think any newspaper that views its business in that way is making a huge mistake and will likely not last long, nor make much money. Content, whether accurate or sensationalist, is what drives the business — that is, sells more copies — and that helps bring in advertising that in turn pays for the trucks, satellites, my expense account, etc.

]]> By: John http://mathewingram.com/media/2006/12/28/googles-newspaper-ad-program-a-hit/#comment-168 John Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:12:24 +0000 http://mathewingram.com/media/2006/12/28/googles-newspaper-ad-program-a-hit/#comment-168 <em>"I would argue that handling advertising is merely a necessary evil that newspapers engage in to help pay for the journalism."</em> Mathew, I believe you have it backwards. For-profit newspapers exist to sell copies and advertising, journalism is one mechanism they use to sell copies and and advertising. The focus of every employee of the for-profit paper should be to sell more copies and sell more advertising, journalists accomplish this by providing the most appropriate type of stories and writing, be it the most accurate, most up to date, most sensational, or whatever the thrust of the paper is. That said, Google paper advertising should be embraced by the papers as another revenue stream - not 'minor league', just a difference service with a somewhat different value proposition. Papers should be very good at maximizing distribution, selling adds, and producing copy, these are their core competencies. Partners, channel sales, etc, can all be part of the puzzle. If strong, accurate, well constructed journalism is job number one, then go work for the state (non-profit) media or keep on blogging! John “I would argue that handling advertising is merely a necessary evil that newspapers engage in to help pay for the journalism.”

Mathew, I believe you have it backwards. For-profit newspapers exist to sell copies and advertising, journalism is one mechanism they use to sell copies and and advertising. The focus of every employee of the for-profit paper should be to sell more copies and sell more advertising, journalists accomplish this by providing the most appropriate type of stories and writing, be it the most accurate, most up to date, most sensational, or whatever the thrust of the paper is.

That said, Google paper advertising should be embraced by the papers as another revenue stream - not ‘minor league’, just a difference service with a somewhat different value proposition.

Papers should be very good at maximizing distribution, selling adds, and producing copy, these are their core competencies. Partners, channel sales, etc, can all be part of the puzzle.

If strong, accurate, well constructed journalism is job number one, then go work for the state (non-profit) media or keep on blogging!

John

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