Local Web Advertising is Slowing Down

All advertising spending will be going down in the next few years, with the state of the economy. Rates for ad space are decreasing and there are fewer people looking to buy. Even local, which had been the fastest-growing part of the online ad market, is looking at a decrease in spending, if this articles is correct (not just a slowing of growth but a decrease).

Local Web-Ad Market Cools Down - WSJ.com

WSJ Discusses Borrell Local Report

The WSJ discussed the Borrell report I mentioned yesterday, although focusing on it from a newspaper perspective. The long and short of it is that they say newspapers are trying to train their sales forces to sell online ads, but when they do that, they cannibalize print (which as we know is higher priced and higher margin). Craigslist is eating their lunch on Classifieds, Google and others are taking share of local traffic and they are having a tough time. Doesn't sound good...

Newspapers Think Locally for Online Ads - WSJ.com

Borrell says YPs to lose $5 Billion in Revenues in 5 Years

Not sure I believe this one, but that's the headline. If you look at the comments of the post I linked to on Screenwerk, Borrell indicates the changes in each category over the next 5 years:
Directories -38.9%
Direct Mail - 32.0%
Telemarketing -28.9%
Newspapers -11.0%
Radio -7.0%
Other Print -3.4%
Broadcast TV -2.1%
Online +22.7%
Out of Home +30.2%
Cable +54.8%
Cinema +313.8%

Not to nit-pick one number and use it to impugn the whole survey, but the newspaper number strikes me as being off. They are losing share every day in classified advertising and are talking about raising prices, which should reduce their reader bases (print at least) and hurt their ad revenues more. I think directionally, these numbers are correct, but not sure about their magnitudes.

Borrell: YPs to Lose $5 Billion in 5 Years « Screenwerk