Newspaper Ad Forecast: 'Long Way From Extinction'

Facebook ads mining user data like never before

(NEWSER) - After seven years of concentrating on the cool, Facebook is finally ready to cash in. The social networking giant is starting to mine its immense database to match users to advertisers like never before, reports the LA Times . Facebook's ad revenue reportedly doubled last year to $2 billion, and insiders say it should double again in 2011. "If you take a look at the history of media, ad dollars go where the eyeballs are," said one analyst. More»

(NEWSER) - In the avalanche of reporting and commentary on the collapse of the newspaper business, a number of salient, none-too-flattering facts have been overlooked about how newspapers contributed to their own demise, Bill Wyman writes on Splice. First, there's the misunderstanding that readers pay for news. It's advertisers who pay, and in the boom years, rich profits from that advertising were devoted to pleasing Wall Street, not preparing for inevitable threats to the papers' monopoly in delivering those ads. More»

'They just messed my magazine all up,' former owner says

(NEWSER) - Don’t count out Vibe, Quincy Jones tells Ebony. Despite this week's announced end to its print edition, Jones says the hip-hop publication he founded 16 years ago will continue online. “I’m trying to buy my magazine back now,” Jones said. “They just messed my magazine all up, but I’m gonna get it back. You better believe it, I’ma take it online because print and all that stuff is over.” More»

Microsoft boss says papers, TV won't bounce back

(NEWSER) - The ad revenue media companies lost in the downturn won't be coming back when things turn around, Steve Ballmer told an advertising conference yesterday. The Microsoft boss said the industry has been "reset" at a lower level, and media companies are going to have to learn to survive on less revenue as content continues to move online and traditional media fade, the Guardian reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Coke has to run a series of we-goofed ads in Australia after asserting in a recent campaign that the soft drink doesn’t rot teeth, make you fat, or contain much caffeine, the Australian reports. “The moment we saw the ad our eyebrows were raised and that turned to disbelief,” said the chairman of the government agency that ordered the do-over. More»