Perfect Online Newspaper Storm: Digital Ads Explode, Pay Wall Implodes
Who says it is not an exciting time to be in the newspaper business? Wall Street Journal veteran Norman Pearlstine is looking forward to the “excitement” a News Corp. Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal will bring to the business of journalism.
The fireworks may soon be starting: The New York Post is “reporting” a rumor that NYTimes.com will imminently be 100% free online; Perhaps in preparation for prospective News Corp. changes at WSJ.com, the Times aims to dismnatle the for-fee TimesSelect content pay wall.
The timing is fortuitous as online advertising is projected to explode, according to a Veronis Suhler Stevenson report:
The fastest-growing media segments over the next five years will be pure-play Internet and mobile services, branded entertainment, out-of-home media, outsourced custom publishing and public relations. Projected total Internet advertising is $61.98 billion in 2011, surpassing newspapers as the nation’s largest ad medium.
At last week’s American Society of Business Publications Editors conference in NYC, Pearlstine underscored “We are at the dawn of a new age of extraordinary transformation. No one can predict what will happen. Models that have been enormously successful are collapsing all around us.”
The next collapse? Watch out for a crumbling New York Times pay wall.
SEE: Norman Pearlstine ‘Excited’ by a Rupert Murdoch Led Dow Jones