Newspapers Need to Build Relationships with Advertising Agencies

Indeed, newspapers in this day and age need to be especially aware of how they cooperate with advertising agencies. As major dailies continue to stop printing or threaten to fold on what seems like a daily basis (as noted in my last post), it's time that these publications take a moment to realize the value of an agency and what it brings to the table.

The Arab Press Network recently published a report by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project that touched on a number of key points in the relationships (or lack thereof) between agencies and publishers.

Besides obvious overpricing and lack of organization in advertising departments at large daily newspapers, there are a whole host of issues that daily newspapers need to address when working with advertising agencies.

This is not to say that every newspaper is incapable of working with agencies - there really are some amazing people out there who have bent over backwards to make a campaign work for a client. As someone who speaks with newspapers every single day, you come to find out quickly who has your clients' best interests in mind and who just wants to make a buck.

And on that note, if there's one thing that is always been an issue, it's trying to make the newspapers understand the importance of the agency commissionable rate. When newspapers don't offer discounts to agencies or are unwilling to negotiate, what they're really saying is "Even though you are doing the work and selling our product for us, we aren't going to cut you a break."

When, according to this study, 90% of major newspapers' display advertising revenue is funneled to them through agencies, it may be time to rethink how they are treating the agencies that continue to send them business, especially now when the papers are as desperate for revenue as ever:

In the United States, national newspapers receive 90 percent of display advertising revenue from agencies, while local newspapers receive about 10 percent. The rest is earned from in-house departments and selling advertising to local clients.

The benefits of building a better relationship with agencies include more advertising volume and share of the market, access to more potential clients, getting earlier information on upcoming campaigns, more information for building cross-platform deals, and access to more people in the agency.

For an industry that is trying to stay afloat, it's sure not trying hard enough in the right areas.


(Courtesy of APN, WAN, and SFN)