Google Pulls Out of Newspaper Ad Business.

800 newspapers participated in the Google newspaper ad program - including some big names such as The New York Times and Washington Post. Google started the program in 2006 and acted as a sales agent, taking of cut of the ads they sold. Their newspaper ad business provided a way for advertisers to buy ad space, and the pricing was intended to be more fluid than traditional ad rates. Google says that sales were good for some participating newspapers - but apparently it wasn't good enough for Google's bottom line.
Collaboration between print and online advertisers takes a set-back from this. Print publications will need to continue to seek out new ways to bring in revenues that have been sapped by the slow economy and the shift to more on-line advertising. The Boston Globe showed the first signs of that shift the day after the inauguration with a movie advertisement running the full length across the front page - something that was never done in the past, but is becoming mroe common. But it will take more than front-page ads to keep revenue flowing into newspapers - they need to find ways to monetize their content, generate revenue from their writing, photography, and other content.
Because we provide training to many newspapers - such as InDesign training and Photoshop training - we hope the business models can be changed to allow them to succeed. And I'm not ready to give up the Boston Globe with my morning cup of coffee each day.