Newspapers go for advertising! Challenges and opportunities in a changing media environment

Traditional advertising and media markets are experiencing radical change. The advances in digital media entail an increase in the number of advertising channels as well as sweeping shifts in marketing budgets. Interactive advertising channels such as the Internet, iDTV, mobile technologies... are gaining importance at the expense of traditional media whose existence depends largely on advertising investments. Newspapers are considered to be financially healthy when 40-70 per cent of their income is derived from advertising revenues. This paper identifies the challenges for newspapers in a changing media environment such as the growing amount of advertising channels, the shift in investments from advertising above-the-line to advertising below-the-line, the migration of classifieds towards the Internet and the competition of new competitors. Other problems can be found in changing advertising legislations. More and more advertising bans menace the media advertisement market. Not only tobacco but also alcohol (in many countries) and recently in the United Kingdom in children's programmes, advertising for products containing high fat, sugar and salt is banned. However, new digital technologies can offer a wide range of opportunities for newspapers. New strategies can be developed for advertisers when combining the paper and the online version of a newspaper: newspapers are fighting back to keep classified advertising online and interactive opportunities of online advertisement can counter the increasing success of below-the-line advertisement. Newspapers can also apply several new formats in the printed version in order to "break through the clutter''