The revenues of offline publishers, particularly print publishers, have been dramatically eroded over the past ten years as their readers and advertisers have flocked to the Internet notes Richard Mullins, director at Acceleration.

According to Mullins, there is every sign that things are going to get even worse for print publishers in the years to come.

Analysts expect print advertising revenues to shrink by $42 billion in the US alone over the next ten years as advertisers shift to other channels, particularly the Internet. Although most major print publishers around the world and in South Africa have launched online products, most of them have failed to stem the hemorrhaging of revenues.

A lot of the money that advertisers are moving into the online world is going to major international portals and search engines rather than to established print brands that have Internet products. Advertisers are simply following readers, many of whom turn to online brands such as Google and Yahoo as the first port of call for a news story.
The emerging world of Web 2.0 brings even more threats for publishers as blogs, RSS readers, and social networking sites take centre stage and users have less reason to visit a print publication’s website noted Mullins.

The mobile Internet is also on the rise, posing the challenge of successfully delivering content to mobile users.

Mullins advises local print publishers to learn how to make better use of online marketing technologies to drive the value of their brands.

If wisely used, these technologies can help to turn the Internet into an opportunity rather than a threat.