By: E&P Staff Newspaper executives believe that sponsored search programs pose a "moderate threat" to traditional advertising, according to a new survey from Krasilovsky Consulting and Borrell Associates Inc.
Asked to rate the threat posed by sponsored search on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being "no threat" and 5 being an "absolute threat," the 27 newspaper Web site and corporate executives gave an average response of 3.5.
Most of the survey respondents said products such as Google's AdSense and Yahoo's Overture have not impacted their bottom line. Many said Google has had a positive impact by buying unsold advertising space on their sites. Some of the executives speculated that Yellow Pages and similar products have probably been more impacted by sponsored search programs.
Furthermore, the executives don't expect sponsored search to have as dramatic an impact on newspapers as Internet verticals such as Monster.com. Nonetheless, the survey respondents indicated they are working to improve the ease and quality of the search functions on their own newspaper sites. This could be particularly important if sponsored search companies extend their product range and/or focus on areas such as retail, automotive and real estate.
A majority of the respondents added that they saw a need to develop a single search solution for articles, advertising and classifieds -- as opposed to having separate search functions for each area.
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