2020-03-01 AdNews

Despite“partlymissingtheboat”,Myllylahtisayspublishershave
hadsuccesswiththeirownclassifiedadvertisingplatforms.
In2000,NewsCorpinvestedmorethan$10millioninrealestate.
com.au.By2019,therealestatesite’sparentcompanyREAGroup,
majority-ownedbyNewsCorp,reportedrevenueof$875million.
Thepublisher’schiefexecutive,RobertThomson,tippedthereal
estatebusinesstobecomeitsbiggestdriverofearnings,moving
thecompanyawayfromitstraditionalrelianceonadvertisingin
newspublications.
Amanda Lotz, a professor ofmediastudies at Queensland
UniversityofTechnology,saysthereweremultiplefactorsthatcon-
tributedtothisdisruption.
“It’s complicated because so many different things have
happened,”shesays.“IntheUS,advertisingratesjustkeptgoingup.
There was really nothing that advertisers, particularly local city-based

advertisers, could dobecause

thereweren'totheroutletsfor

them.Thatcreatedanunderlying

discontent,whichisokayaslong

asconditionsdon'tchange.But

conditionschanged.”

Thearrivalofdigitalmeantnew

platformsbegantoemerge,suchas

searchandsocialmedia,thatwere

moreeffectiveforadvertisers.

“Digitalhasbroughtmanydif-

ferentthingsandthat'swhyit all

getsveryconfusing,”saysLotz.

“It’sa bitunreasonabletothink

thatnewspaperpublisherswould

haveseenthatthesenewandbet-

termechanismsofadvertising

wouldbedeveloped.Ifwewant

topointfingerstowhereit could

havebeendifferent,ittook a

reallylongtimetounderstand

howandwhytheindustrywas

changingandthatissomewhat

hindsight,too.

“Ittookeveryonea whileto

figureit out.It transpiredduring

a periodof 20 yearsintermsof

whatpeoplethoughtnewmedia

wasgoingtobeandwherethe

threatswere.Thereisstillan

awfullotofmisunderstanding

about why newspapers are

c ha l lenged.”

Therealchallenge,saysLotz,

is that newspapers were not

a journalismproduct, but an

advertisingproductthatsurvived

bybuildingthelargestaudience

possibletoselltoadvertisers.

Thatmodelworkedwhilenews-

papers had a monopoly over

deliveringclassifiedadvertising

to people.However, this was

shatteredbytheinternet,which

tookwithitjournalism’smain

sourceofrevenue.

GoogleandFacebook,atjust

20 and 14 yearsoldrespectively,

togetherconsumedmorethan

half of all online advertising

spend(excludingclassified)in

Australiain2018,accordingto

the ACCC.So, for every$

spent online,$47 is given to

Google and$24 to Facebook,

leavingpublisherstofightforthe

remaining$29.Therearenosigns

theirsharewillincreasedramat-

ically.PwCpredictsprintadver-

tisingwilldeclineby20%to$

millionby2023,anddigitalto

grow by5.9%to$700 million

from 2019-2023.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

19961998200020022004200620082010201

2

201

4

201

6

201

8

Advertising

spend

($ billions – inflation adjusted)

Radio TV Outdoor & Cinema Print media Online

Facebook Google

Classifieds Other

0

5

10

20142015201620172018

Online advertising spend($ b

illions –

inflation ad

justed

)

FIGURE1:Advertising expenditure by media format and digital platform, adjusted for inflation

0

5

10

15

20

25

Google Facebook Microso

(including

outlook.com)

Snapchat Apple Newsoutlets

Share

of

time

spent

onl

ine

(pe

rce

nt

)

Youtube

Facebook

Search

Other

Messenger

Instagram

WhatsApp

Nine-Fairfax

ABC

NewsCorp

Ten

Seven West

Share of time spent

on all other websites:

50.8%

18. 
    

    6

    
    


19. 
    

    5

    
    


20. 
    

    (^3) 2. 1 2. 3

    
    


21. 
    

    4

    
    

FIGURE2:Australians’ time spent online

ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry final report, June 2019

http://www.adnews.com.au|March 2020 17