Death of newspapers (cont'd)

You have to wonder why the new owner of the OC Register insists on pushing the print side. Print ad revenues totaled $19 billion in 2012 (that covers national, retail, and classified), which compares with $56.5 billion in 2004. That's not a drop, it's a free-fall - and the revenues will never come back. From economist Mark Perry:

It took 50 years to go from about $20 billion in annual newspaper print ad revenue in 1950 (adjusted for inflation) to $63.5 billion in 2000, and then only 12 years to go from $63.5 billion back to less than $20 billion in 2012. Even when online advertising is added to the print ads (see red line in chart), the combined total spending for print and online advertising this year will still only be about $22.4 billion, less than the $22.47 billion spent on print advertising in 1953.