Having been beaten to death by Ebay and Craigslist, the San Diego Tribune has decided to waive advertising fees for classified ads for goods under $5,000.

The drop in advertising coincides with a similar drop in readership of print newspapers.

In a story about its move, the newpaper quotes Gordon Borrell, president of Borrell Associates, a media consulting firm in Virginia:

"Seldom has a new medium come along and completely killed another. But . . . the Internet is squeezing newspapers into a niche product. Classified is being walloped."

In an attempt to save face, the newspaper's director of advertising Scott Whitley however maintained that this wasn't a move out of desperation, but rather "about growing readership with content – and advertising is content."

Classifieds are content, he argues, and will help him regain readers that found out that internet not only gives you access to more ads, it also allows you to search them much better and receive better product information.

Whitley is fighting a rising tide, and showing typical behaviour (AKA: denial) for a company in despair.

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photo credit: Carin Araujo

tags: craigslist, advertising, ebay, classified ads

29 Aug 2005