Monday, May 25, 2009

classified

http://www.vette-vues.com/graphics/classified_ads_news.jpgThe number of adults who use online classified services such as Craigslist has more than doubled since 2005, a trend that underscores the growing social role of those sites and a continuing erosion of a revenue source for newspapers, according to a new study.



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The study, released Friday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found that 49 percent of Internet users have used an online classified site, up from 22 percent in 2005.

About 9 percent visit an online classified site on a typical day, up from 4 percent in 2005, the study said.

And Internet users ages 25 to 44 - a prime demographic sought by advertisers - are "significantly more likely than any other age group" to use free online classifieds, said Pew research assistant Sydney Jones.

The findings "highlight the growing importance of such sites to Internet users and reflect the changes in the audience for classified ads - both those who place them and those who make purchases - that have devastated a key revenue source for traditional newspapers," the report said.

The nonprofit Pew Research Center of Washington surveyed 2,253 adults ages 18 and older by phone from March 26 to April 19.

The study found that adults with annual household incomes of at least $50,000 were twice as likely to use online classifieds as people earning less than $30,000. The study also found that 54 percent of college graduates use online classifieds.

People older than 55 were less likely to use an online ad. But in an interview, Jones said one surprise was that people ages 18 to 24 also were less likely to use them.

"It could be the 18- to 24-year-olds are still in college and not trying to look for a job yet or trying to look for an apartment or trying to get rid of furniture," she said.

The report reflects part of the shift away from newspapers, which benefited from a rise of classified ad revenues from $4.2 billion in 1980 to $19.5 billion in 2000. Those revenues dropped to $9.9 billion in 2008.

In that time, San Francisco's Craigslist blossomed into the most popular online classified site, with 53.8 million unique visitors in March. Other sites include Gumtree and Kijiji.

Newspapers are hard-pressed to compete because "for many consumers, this is a more efficient, easier way to sell their knickknacks and used items," said Mike McGuire, research vice president with the Gartner Media Industry Advisory Service.

Instead of paying for a limited number of words in a print ad, online sellers have free, unfettered space to write what they want, post photos and quickly remove the ad if the object sells, he said.

To compete with free, newspapers must experiment with new ways to add value to a print ad, such as tying online access to portions of the paper available only to subscribers, he said.