What Aren’t Newspapers 100% Full-Page Ads?
I’m actually finding more value from the redesigned Star Tribune Sunday-edition as a weekly ad flyer than a “news source”. So with that in mind, here’s a handful of questions to ponder this afternoon:
- Since newspapers get their revenue from advertisers, isn’t it in the newspaper’s best interest to contain only full-page ads?
- By that same token, shouldn’t radio and television be 100% commercials?
- At what point would an advertiser willingly reduce their visibility and not run and ad – of any size?
Moments later:
Radio Advertisers admit radio advertisements are boring.
Here’s my favorite quote from the article:
“Why would you pay for something you get for free?”, asked John Hogan, CEO of Clear Channel’s radio business
To Mr. Hogan I ask, “What price garbage avoidance?“
3 Comments
It’s been done… see Cosmo or any other “beauty” magazine.
I’m hard pressed to find ANY content in those magazines.
Not that I…ummm… read those magazines or anything. Say, I need to renew my “Guns & Ammo” subscription!
Eddie, you make a great point.
Something like Domino & Lucky, the magazine is an ad for the products and the retailers within their pages.
So, for any sub-set, any niche, any specialization – the ad is the content.
By this logic, the problem with newspapers (and other broadcast media) is their pursuit of the general. So, perhaps they should drop their editorial staff, syndication contracts, and only publish ads.
Might actually increase subscriptions.
uh…no one would read an all-ad newspaper, therefore the value would drop to the advertiser.
There’s that fine line where it’s ‘just enough news’ to call it a newspaper/magazine but sill mostly ads.