Bummer of a Business Model, Redux

[xthread]

I ran over this fascinating graph this morning, from a presentation put together by Hal Varian, Google's Chief Economist.



Newspaper ad revenues is that long blue line at the top that has been falling continually for the last 60 years.
The observation that strikes me is not The Internet is killing Newspapers!
The question that strikes me is What was killing Newspapers for the four decades before the Internet came along? For that matter, why wasn't the newspaper business doing something about it?

_{The answer to that next-to-last question, by the way, is that advertisers have shifted their spending from newspapers to television continually for the last half century, as people have stopped being readers and started being viewers instead.}

Comments

[dixiemouse.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this... I have heard many people railing that the internet was killing newspaper ads, but I could have sworn that I heard the rumblings of newspaper ad rates dropping even before I rember my high school nerd friends talk about some board they were on until all hours on the night ;)