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Bear Stearns: Google to Bring Ads to Newspapers at a Cost

Another analyst is predicting a gloomy year for 2007 in regards to print advertising revenue, with several categories weighing down results next year.

Help Wanted and Real Estate are two formerly healthy categories now in decline, according to Bear Stearns analyst Alexia Quadrani, writes Editor & Publisher. While Help Wanted classifieds were on the rise until June, now even online Help Wanteds are starting to show strains.

CareerBuilder, the online recruitment site owned by Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy, for example, reported that revenue increased a strong 39 percent year-to-date, but that’s a paltry figure compared to last year’s 79 percent. In 2007, there will be little relief for the downward trend.

Real estate advertising has not seen negative growth yet, but it has slowed considerably, growing 23 percent in Q1 this year but only 9 percent year-to-date Q3.

Google’s print ad program may bring some additional advertisers to newspapers, but if so, it will be at the expense of direct relationships, and could impact the sales force role, “as Google begins to develop traditional media relationships direct with advertisers in addition to its interactive ones,” writes Quadrani.