With the growing popularity of Apple's iPhone and other internet-capable phones, Google has rolled out a mobile version of its popular AdWords program for search.
Nearly 70 percent of internet-capable phone users utilize their "phone" for searches (i.e. movies, restaurants, gas stations, Starbucks) while on the go. Feeding AdWords (paid text or image ads) along with the search results (just like Google on your desktop/laptop) was a no-brainer.
On the other end, advertisers will have the ability to choose whether to feed their "sponsored" ad words to mobile devices. For some advertisers, mobile ads won't make sense and they can opt out of mobile searches in their AdSense account preferences.
Economy advances 'tipping point' for print newspapers
The economic meltdown of 2008 has accelerated the print newspapers' 'tipping point' - the level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable and the old business model/method begins to fail at an ever-increasing rate.
The coming year promises to be a even more trying time for newspapers as financially stressed advertisers pursue less costly online and other types of ad strategies which will continue the cycle of further declines in traditional newspaper ad revenues.
Newspapers' online sites, while very popular, have not been able to generate enough revenue to offset the print paper ad revenues. Case in point: Lee Enterprises' online ad revenues for fiscal 2008 totaled $55 million, only 7 percent of the chain's $784 million total advertising revenue.
Lee's financial problems continue to worsen
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it would delay filing its 10K/annual report until Dec. 29 as it works to determine the amount of impairment charges it will have to record. The company said it expect such charges to be at least $180 million after income tax benefit.
According to the filing, the impact of the additional impairment charges and income tax issues will reduce stockholders' equity and "will trigger convenant issues" related to $306 million in debt.
“Although the credit markets remain very difficult, lenders have shown a willingness to work toward acceptable solutions to help us avoid violating performance conditions in our debt agreements,” Lee's Chairman and Chief Excutive Mary Junck said. “Even in this recession, Lee continues to generate substantial cash flow, and we continue to believe that Lee will emerge strong when all the national economic turbulence ends.”
Sharing deliver services
In an effort to lower distribution costs, the two competing newspapers in the Quad Cities announced two weeks ago they would use each other's carrier networks to deliver a portion of each publication's papers.
The Dispatch/Argus carriers will deliver the QC Times papers in the Illinois Quad Cities, while the Times carriers will deliver the Dispatch/Argus in the Iowa Quad Cities.
And, in Detroit
The two daily newspapers in Detroit, the Gannett-owned Detroit Free Press and MediaNews Group's Detroit News, have announced they will publish and home-deliver full-sized papers only on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. A smaller "compact" print edition will be available the other four days but only as a single-copy (not delivered) version.
