The rise of web based advertising, particularly search engines pay per click methods, has become increasingly important just as internet usage reaches over 70% of the national population. These innovations have had notable effects on nationally syndicated newspapers and concurrently, the amount that newspapers are willing to spend on self-promotion.

The pay per click model popular among search engines like Google and Yahoo!, creates revenue for marketers every time their link is clicked. Such search engines have allowed advertisers to bid on spots associated with search terms similar to their product, using narrowcasting(Croteau and Hoynes74) to ensure that they will target the users most likely to buy their product(Stafford and Faber 10). This is seen as a more cost effective approach to advertising than through national newspapers like New York Times, who charge high premiums for a broader and more unpredictable demographic, most of which wont heed the ads unrelated to their interests. In other words, advertisers aren't willing to hit "a scattering of readers, and they don't want to pay for it" when they can "look to flood the area within five miles of their stores."

Competition on the internet has forced publications like the New York Times to place less priority on raising sales nationwide because of the wide availability of free news sources online that have sprouted as a result of their high advertising revenues. Even by the year 2000, internet revenues from ad sales were beginning to gain on national newspaper revenues from ad sales, taking up just .3% less (2.6% on internet revenues. 2.9% on national newspaper revenues) of the total revenues generated by ad sales across all media systems(Stafford and Faber).

The rise of web based advertising over print based methods has recently come to a head following the September 2007 shut down of TimesSelect, a feature of the New York Times online that offers the newspapers features and articles alongside other special interactive features (videos, photo journals, etc..). It has been cited that the revenue from online membership reached only $10 million annually, a modest earning compared to their total annual revenue of $218.5 million.

Supporters of Times Select say that the online feature was created in order to funnel in another revenue stream to remove primary dependence on advertising revenues. Though, it seems that this disregard failed to tap into the benefits of narrowcasting espoused by search engine websites such as Google. Louise Ma, web designer for the New York Times website, supports this reality, attributing the fall of Times Select "mostly because of Google and their use of adsense.” The development can only be positive on content, since essentially removing the service only removes "opinion from behind a pay wall" when the most loyal subscribers were paying for their opinion on print subscriptions anyway. Others, like CNN's Paul R. La Monica, also see the shut down as a potential benefit - that the fall of New York Times stock will only lead to reinvestment in cheap stocks while forcing its owners to cut down printing and ,like advertisers, focus on those audiences who will subscribe despite rising prices from the drop in print based ad revenues.

Works Cited

David Croteau and William Hoynes. Media Society: Industries, Images and Audiences. London: Pine Forge Press, 2003.

Marla R. Stafford and Ronald J. Faber. Advertising, Promotion, and New Media. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2005.