Newspaper Ad Revenue Drops 10 Percent In One Year

In perhaps the best sign of the impact of New Media on traditional media, "Editor and Publisher" reporter Jennifer Saba tells us that the newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in ad revenue in a half-century. She wrote:

According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 -- the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950.

Meanwhile, online ad revenue now represents 7.5 percent of total newspaper ad revenue, up almost 2 percent from 2006.

What we're seeing, in my view, is the transformation of media from primarily offline to eventually a balance of online and offline. But in this I don't think the nature of jobs in this industry will be the same. My prediction is that the best-paid writers will contribute to different online platforms and not just one, reflecting the fact that one site can't command readership online as consistently as it can offline.