Subscribe
for just...
plus
When you look at the future of advertising for publishers, the trends are rather depressing. And it's not just one trend. It's a multitude of trends that all look pretty bad.
Meanwhile, the tech companies are winning big, which shouldn't really come as a surprise when you look at what they are doing. Their ad product, combined with their scalable platform focus, gives them a competitive edge that no publisher can match.
The result is that the newspaper industry has lost 71% of the market, at least if we look at the US. But it's kind of the same thing all around. That's pretty scary.
And also look at the future projected by Bloomberg for what level they think will be at in 2019. That's a 90% drop in only 15 years.
Or ... game over!
As an analyst, I don't like writing this, because I want the industry to win as much as the rest of you. But the reality is that the trends are so crystal clear and so devastating in their future outlook that we have stop trying to change the little things, and instead dramatically rethink how we do advertising altogether.
You can't save this by cutting costs or by optimizing how the ads are shown while not changing anything else. As publishers, we need an entirely different type of product that we can sell to brands.
So in this article, we are going to talk about the models that will fail no matter what (which is pretty much what all old media is doing today), and which models we need to focus on instead.
There are two major elements that are completely obliterating the future of advertising for publishers.
The first element is the concept on which most advertising is based, in that publishers are simply offering random advertising for random people at random moments.
This is nothing new. This is the model of advertising that has dominated throughout the past 200 years. TV commercials, newspaper ads, billboards, radio commercials; they are all based on random exposure.
Register to try out Baekdal Plus completely for free for one week.
Baekdal Plus is your premium destination for trends and analysis for the media industry. Every year you get 25 reports about the future media trends, business and editorial strategies, monetization analysis and insights about how to use analytics specifically for publishers.
As a subscriber, you also get full access to all the Plus reports (more than 200) published over the past 8 years, as well as the ability to share what you read.
Yes, of course, please write to plus@baekdal.com and I will send you a regular invoice that you can pay via your bank. I will need your company name, address and VAT number (if within the EU). Also, please note that due to this process being manual, this will be for an annual subscription only.
Yes, please write to plus@baekdal.com for details. But for 25-99 users: the price is 20% off the subscription price ($79/year per user), 100+ users is a fixed price at $5,000 (for all combined).
Yes, please head over to Baekdal Media to read about consulting where I can help you with strategy reviews, trend and strategy reports, and strategic guidance for you media company or a specific publication.
People often talk about the objectivity of the press, but few understand what that really means.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
This is a good time to start a new magazine
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Audience engagement is very important for publishers, but many don't organize it the right way.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Journalism is facing a crisis in trust, but what can we do ourselves to fix this?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
We are moving into a new era for privacy and advertising, so how should we think about this?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
How do newspaper develop the right news reading culture?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Founder, media analyst, author, and publisher. Follow on Twitter
"Thomas Baekdal is one of Scandinavia's most sought-after experts in the digitization of media companies. He has made himself known for his analysis of how digitization has changed the way we consume media."
Swedish business magazine, Resumé
plus
free
plus
plus
plus
plus