According to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, Aussies spent $617 million on online classified advertising in 2010, a growth of 22% on the previous year. But the most surprising element? That sum still only represents 35% of the total classifieds market, which is still dominated by print.
I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I looked at a print classified ad — for any category where I might be looking for something, there’s going to be an online service that covers it. In some cases, that service might overlap with a print equivalent, but that’s increasingly not the case either (think Seek, think eBay).
While the online sector is growing and the print segment is declining, there’s obviously still some legs in it. In what areas (if any) do you find print classifieds more useful than going online? Share your insights in the comments.
Vikashan Thayanithy
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 1:19 PMThe internet is a distraction filled mess, and often more difficult to navigate than the tactile media. Newspapers are easier on the eyes, and the ability to rip, circle or highlight a classified ad makes it an enjoyable experience. This is all speculation of course, I very rarely feel the need to buy a newspaper…
Nathan
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 2:08 PMVikashan, do you rarely feel the need to buy a newspaper because you’ve got an online equivalent(!) like smh.com.au or news.com.au.
Am also absolutely amazed that Print Media is dominating the Classifieds market still, even with certain demographics more likely to feel comfortable with Newspapers or the Trading Post (elderly, loewr socioeconomic, etc)
DDK
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 4:08 PMAngus, what was the source for the stats quoted above? Can you link to it?
Angus Kidman
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 4:43 PMPress release sent to me direct from Frost & Sullivan.
DDK
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 5:05 PMThanks Angus.
If anyone’s interested…
http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?ctxixpLink=FcmCtx1&docid=198299410&ctxixpLabel=FcmCtx2
David
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 4:48 PMPrint classified ads? Are we talking about the “junk mails” that get stuffed into our mailboxes? I still get and read them even though I do everything online and never subscribe to a printed newspaper. I think it’s still popular because it is delivered to our doors at no costs to us. Once we receive it, we know it’s the new, most updated catalogs of the popular stores that we know. It kind of “activates” our bargain hunting instinct because of its timely periodic informing. They should do a simple research on how many percentages of households having “No Junk Mail” sign on their mailboxes as well (I believe it would be less than 50%).
SF.
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 8:41 PMThis is April 2010 data – is there a newer Frost Sullivan report for this year?
eg. Google’s foray into real estate was canned months ago
Angus Kidman
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 6:06 AMThe newer report for this year is the one I was quoting — as you say, the one DDK linked to is from a year ago.
DDK
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:08 PMSorry. Missed that.
mark b
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 10:14 AMi read ‘junk’ mail catalogues all the time; mainly to compare how much cheaper things are online v.s. the stores..