[Rubber Duck]

Actually it is known as a double whammy. Advertising revenues are increasing, but newspapers will attract an ever lower share. Free distribution may increase circulation, but if people don't want to pay for it, will they respond to the ads. The free means that the cachet of the paper is lost, so their ability to charge premium prices for ads will also drop.

As a silver lining, it is a bit like having the most people that ever turned up to see you at once come, when they stick you in the ground.

Originally Posted by thegenius1

To combat the loss of readers to the web, a story in the International Herald Tribune says an increasing number of newspapers, especially in Europe, are going to a free distribution model. Quoting from the article, Piet Bakker, Associate Professor of Communications at the University of Amsterdam, said "Almost all over Europe, you see circulation going down for paid newspapers. At the same time, the economy is improving, helping the advertising market. Free newspapers are seen as the best way to take advantage of this. Meanwhile papers that continue to charge are trying to offset reader and advertiser loss by cutting jobs. Bear Stearns analyst Alexia Quadrani told Editor & Publisher magazine "the newspaper industry's ad revenue is barely moving - up 0.5% so far in 2006 - but circulation continues to drop so newspaper publishers will likely reduce costs by eliminating more workers." The continuing flight of ad money from old media to the Internet is a primary factor in the escalation of prices for domains with traffic.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/...iness/free.php

http://www.dnjournal.com/lowdown.htm