Denver's 150-year-old daily newspaper, The Rocky Mountain News, is closing its doors today. Word is also out that the San Francisco Chronicle will also shut down if it can't find a buyer. I've been writing about the decimation of traditional media (and the rise of online media) for some time now and we are finally reaching the endgame where many outlets realize all of the cutbacks they have made are not enough to save the ship so they are throwing in the towel.
The newspapers aren't the only ones on a sinking ship either. The storm is descending on radio, TV, direct mail, print yellow pages and magazines too. A new report from BIA and the Kelsey Group predicts that as a group, local advertising dollars spent in those traditional forms of media will decline another 20% over the next five years, from $141 billion in 2008 to $112 billion in 2013.
I personally think the decline will be much more severe than that as the rise of the Internet accelerates and Kelsey admits that could be the case. "The share shift we expect could actually be more pronounced if the major traditional media are not able to integrate new interactive products into their bundle," said Neal Polachek, CEO of The Kelsey Group (that was recently acquired by BIA).
At the same time the traditional sector is plunging, the report predicts that local ad spending online will soar 129% in the same time frame from $14 billion to $32.1 billion. That is a compound annual growth rate of 18%. These numbers again confirm that domain owners are sitting in the right place at the right time.
