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Google's Chief Economist can't help newspapers...

By | March 9, 2010, 7:28pm PST

Summary: The FTC is holding hearings into the problems facing the newspaper industry. Google’s chief economist was invited to make a presentation…

If anyone can help the newspapers transition to an online business it should be Google because it has a 360 degree view of what people do on the web, how much time they spend reading news, where they come from, what time of the day, etc.

Google also has information on what types of ads work best, what the ad rates are, the amount of traffic, and more, much more.

Yet when Google’s chief economist, Hal Varian, turned up at the Federal Trade Commission to present a talk, “Newspaper Economics, Online and Offline,” the only advice he had was, “Experiment, experiment, experiment,” reports Martin Langeveld, at Nieman Journalism Lab.

If that’s the best Mr Varian can come up with, that’s very bad news indeed for newspapers.

Here is the most dismal, of many dismal stats, that he presented to the FTC:

- online ad revenue is substantially less than 5% of newspaper revenues.

Here is his slide deck:


And here is a PearlTree that represents a collection of web pages on this topic:

 New Media Business Models 

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Tom Foremski reports on the business and culture of Silicon Valley at the intersection of technology and media.

Disclosure

Tom Foremski

Tom Foremski is the editor and publisher of Silicon Valley Watcher and Silicon Valley Watch. Tibco Software is an advertiser.

Biography

Tom Foremski

In May 2004, Tom Foremski became the first journalist to leave a major newspaper, the Financial Times, to make a living as a full-time journalist blogger. He writes the popular news blog Silicon Valley Watcher--reporting on the business of Silicon Valley.

Tom arrived in San Francisco in 1984, and has covered US technology markets for leading computer journals around the world.

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RE: Google's Chief Economist can't help newspapers...
FAULKNE 13th Oct
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There is a simple solution for Newspapers
Uralbas Updated - 9th Mar 2010
They face two hurdles

a) Can they change their ways and old practices?
b) Who will to pay for the transition?

News papers are the past, now most people receive news through the NET.

If they really want a solution to increase their viewership numbers, they should contact those who know how to make it happen.

A) Keep costs low... (LINUX underneath)
B) FREE is the keyword.
C) Have something that concentrates attention
D) Marketing

What this is, well until its patented, I'm not saying!
The problem for newspapers is that they spend money to gather news, to pay reporters and commentators, and provide an infrastructure for same, and then Google steals the articles (in the name of search) and gives it away to its users while charging advertisors to place ads on their website.

The solution is obvious. The newspapers should be charging Google for the right to sell ads on the basis of their product. Google has been getting a free ride for far too long. And the result will be that we will no longer have access to knowledgeable commentators and will become dependent on bloggers with dubious credentials. All part of the dumbing of America (and the world).
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