Newspapers lose $25 billion in revenue – where did it go?

US newspaper publishers’ hopes that advertising revenues might be about to stabilise have been dashed by several pieces of research.

An analysis of data predicts that newspapers will achieve a new low in ad sales for 2011, with revenues expected to come in at about $24 billion this year (2011) – down from the record $49.4 billion achieved in 2005.

The last time newspaper revenues were this low was 1984.

via Greenslade

 

Although this was the year many publishers hoped the business would stabilize, sales continued to deteriorate alarmingly in almost every category in the first nine months:

  • Retail advertising dropped 8.8%.
  • Classifieds plunged 12.9%.
  • National advertising fell by a bit less than 11%.
  • The only bright spot was digital advertising, which climbed 8.3%.

This year was the year that many publishers believed an improving economy would halt, if not reverse, the revenue slide that commenced in the spring of 2006. Technically, the economy did rebound in 2011, but the uptick bypassed newspapers.

via Newsosaur

 

My heart goes out to all those in the industry.

With one question, where did $25 billion in lost revenue go. What multi-billion dollar industry has replaced it?

 

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It’s possible it went to the digital world, where newspapers are completely out of touch with only a few success stories.

Over 100 coal plants have closed in U.S. – since last year

Two utilities announced the planned closure of nine coal plants in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, bringing total retirements (executed and planned) since January 2010 past the 100 mark to 106.

A combination of high domestic coal prices, low natural gas prices, new air quality regulations, coordinated activist pressure, and cost-competitive renewables are making coal an increasingly bad choice for many power plant operators. Along with the 106 announced closures, 166 new plants have been defeated since 2002.

More information – Clean Technica

Top 10 reasons to read comic books

10. Fun To Read
9. Spark The Imagination
8. Inspirational
7. Pretty Pictures
6. Literacy
5. Educational Tidbits and Nuggets
4. Cool Factor
3. Better Than The Movie
1. Good Ol’ Fashion Values

via Top 10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Read Comics
 

I totally agree with the list, though I think ‘fun’ and ‘inspirational’ should be much higher. It’s fun to argue these points and worth reading the full article for descriptions of why each was included.

Thanks to I Sell Comics for sharing.

Our trash pollutes beaches around the world

A recent cleanup of trash on a scenic Mexican beach seemed to confirm what many there thought: Most of the plastic garbage comes from outside Mexico.

On Feb. 25, a cleanup collected more than 6 tons of trash and allowed participants to examine pieces for signs of where it came from.

The answer: all over. Cuba. Venezuela. Honduras. China. Brazil.The  United States. Haiti. Jamaica. The Netherlands. Pretty much everywhere but Mexico.

H. Bruce Rinker, an ecologist based in Maine, said he examined perhaps hundreds of pieces during the cleanup effort.

“I found only two pieces clearly with ‘Product of Mexico’ labels,” he said in an email.

via LA Times

The Atlantic survived by reimagining itself as a digital product

How did a 153-year-old magazine — one that first published the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and gave voice to the abolitionist and transcendentalist movements — reinvent itself for the 21st century?

By pretending it was a Silicon Valley start-up that needed to kill itself to survive.

The Atlantic is on track to turn a tidy profit of $1.8 million this year. That would be the first time in at least a decade that it had not lost money.

Getting there took a cultural transfusion, a dose of counterintuition and a lot of digital advertising revenue.

“We imagined ourselves as a venture-capital-backed start-up in Silicon Valley whose mission was to attack and disrupt The Atlantic,” said Justin B. Smith, president of the Atlantic Media Company.

What that meant more than anything else was forcing one of the nation’s oldest magazines to stop thinking of itself as a printed product.

via NY Times

 

The article is from December, 2010, but still worth reading if the topic interests you (death of newspapers, magazines).

It’s worth noting that The Atlantic is continuing its heroic transformation:

October, 2011:

For the 12th consecutive quarter, The Atlantic is reporting gains in print and online revenue. In third quarter 2011, overall advertising revenue is up 19 percent. – Folio

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The Atlantic‘s online ad revenue exceeded its print ad revenue for the first time…even more interestingly, October’s 51% digital advertising share doesn’t come from a decline in print revenue. According to Lauf, The Atlantic sold more ads in the October issue of the magazine than it had since 1999. – The Next Web

 

 

Learn how the rest of the industry is faring – Newspapers are losing $25 billion in revenue in 2011 – The digital divide – newspapers are completely lost.

An epic ping-pong battle – with visual FX

A short skit about friends playing ping-pong. With any competitive sport, winning is part of the satisfaction. As the game becomes more about who can smash harder, things start to get interesting with subtle VFX and anime style exaggeration.

NFL blackout rule in dispute – serves no financial purpose but lingers on

The most significant discussion of NFL blackouts in 40 years is taking place right now. Given the fact that the NFL’s blackout rule punishes disabled, poor and elderly fans and the fact that the rule doesn’t even work, it’s long past time the rule was eliminated.

According to NFL rules, if a game is not sold out within 72 hours, the television broadcast is blacked out in the local market. The Federal Communications Commission then steps in and says that if local broadcasters can’t air a game locally, then neither can cable or satellite companies.

These blackouts happen despite the fact that the NFL is making hand over fist and will earn $6 billion per year from its television contracts starting in 2015.

In 2011, the Chargers had 2 home games blacked out, Buffalo lost three games; Tampa missed out on five games and Cincinnati was unable to watch six of its team’s eight home games.

In January, the FCC agreed to review its 36-year-old blackout rule in response to a petition filed by Sports Fans Coalition and other prominent public interest groups. On February 13, the initial deadline for public comments, formal comments were filed by Sports Fans Coalition, the NFL, MLB, the National Association of Broadcasters, five U.S. Senators, several top sports economists (who said “blackouts have no significant effect on ticket sales in the NFL”), and over4,000 individual fans around the country.

via Brian Frederick

 

In the petitions filed, the NFL still supports blackouts (“supports contractual provisions”), while the MLB petitioned to get rid of the rule.

Five Senators also petitioned in opposition, they are – Senators Stabenow (MI), Harkin (IO), Blumenthal (CT), Brown (OH), and Lautenberg (NJ).

Finally, nine sports economist petitioned in opposition with the following reasoning:

Research on the economics of sports and broadcasting lends no support to the concerns that have been expressed by the NFL and broadcasters. There is no evidence that the current blackout practices of the NFL have a significant effect on attendance, revenues, profits and the allocation of television rights between over-the-air and MVPDS broadcasters.

Blackout rules were created in the mid 20th Century, before professional sports attained its current popularity and financial stability. Steady growth in demand for both attendance and television rights have caused dramatic increases in ticket prices, television rights fees, revenues and profits, especially in the NFL.

The NFL‟s defense of blackout rules hinges on their financial significance, yet the available evidence indicates that these rules have at best a very minor effect of the NFL‟s financial performance.

As stated by Commissioner Goodell, the NFL sees blackouts as a means for “driving people to … stadiums.” Blackouts have no significant effect on ticket sales in the NFL and increase no-shows only when the weather is bad.

U.S. imported less than 50% of the oil consumed in 2010 – first time in 13 years

In 2010, we imported less than 50 percent of the oil our nation consumed—the first time that’s happened in 13 years—and the trend continued in 2011.

via WhiteHouse.gov