The LA Times’ online advertising revenue is now sufficient to cover the whole print and online editorial payroll, according to Times’ editor Russ Stanton. A friend of mine from the newsroom (thanks Al!) forwarded me this last week and I’ve been meaning to jot a note about it since — it’s a big deal. Despite some folks who say advertising is not a viable model for online content in general, and newspaper content in particular, we’re continuing to see ad revenues grow across the industry as ad buys shift to online. This shift will also mean a change in perceived value of online advertising on the part of media buyers, and an evolution in pricing. (Of course, some online ad revenue figures appear to be flat or shrinking in the economic downturn, but I suspect many of these revenues are aggregate and contain money from bundled print classifieds ad sales). Jeff Jarvis writes in the Guardian, “… We are on the cusp of the moment when online revenue could sustain a substantial digital journalistic enterprise without the onerous cost of printing and distribution. Hallelujah.” A lot of tough things had to happen to reach this potential convergence of revenue and cost in digital journalism, including a much smaller newsroom. But the sentiment remains a valid one. Hallelujah.
Tags: advertising, journalism, newspapers
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