It's pretty clear that advertising revenues are dwindling, particularly for niche publishers. In the first place, there is not much real estate on a newsletter for advertising (only so much space, so it is critical to get the right advertisers and sign them long term). At the same time, many creators/editors/reporters are just that--they create content and don't sell. Selling advertising is a full-time job in itself--and something many editors, including myself, struggle with. Even having other sources of income such as webinars for B2B publishers is a challenge. In my industry, just about every company has a webinar touting their products and services...so will they now just say, "hey, going with Kevin's webinar he just started." No, they won't. Plus, you need to sell sponsorships for those webinars or any event. Again, tough for the creator who has a hard time getting a newsletter out on deadline.
It's pretty clear that advertising revenues are dwindling, particularly for niche publishers. In the first place, there is not much real estate on a newsletter for advertising (only so much space, so it is critical to get the right advertisers and sign them long term). At the same time, many creators/editors/reporters are just that--they create content and don't sell. Selling advertising is a full-time job in itself--and something many editors, including myself, struggle with. Even having other sources of income such as webinars for B2B publishers is a challenge. In my industry, just about every company has a webinar touting their products and services...so will they now just say, "hey, going with Kevin's webinar he just started." No, they won't. Plus, you need to sell sponsorships for those webinars or any event. Again, tough for the creator who has a hard time getting a newsletter out on deadline.