UK online publishers expect the growth of 2009 online sales to halve from last year, according to Association of Online Publishers’ census of its members.
While last year the publishers expected online revenue to grow 31 percent in 2008, this year the expectation is down to just 16 percent – a far cry from the kind of increases we had grown used to (ie. 60 percent through 2006). Those days are over, at least for now. The AOP said its members are diversifying revenue from just ad-funded content, but those members said ad prices are under pressure.
AOP says its members made £800 million from digital in 2008. If publishers’ forecasts – given to the association last month – prove accurate, they will have made £928 million by the end of this year.
Sixty-three percent of publishers plan to increase digital investment, with the focus for a majority (51 percent) on converging print and web production staff – 65 percent of members reckon on further integration in department functions including ad planning, editorial, brand research and ad sales. Seven percent plan to decrease online spending. Four in 10 online publishers plan to increase training budgets, those the majority (51 percent) will training expenditure flat
Meanwhile, this optimistic feature today from IHT (or NY Times, who knows anymore?) tries suggesting European newspapers are thriving compared with US counterparts. It picks a grab bag of case studies (Bild’s record profit, paidcontent success for Norway’s Verdens Gang), but these two swallows can’t make a summer – and can’t ignore the fact that UK news publishing has fallen down a hole in recent months, with the economy exacerbating ad revenue already lost to online, leading to thousands of layoffs.