Why News Companies Can’t Get On Top Of Digital Advertising

A study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism is making the rounds that suggests news companies are flubbing the digital ad game. The news sites’ struggles to figure out the digital ad market may reflect a basic competitive disadvantage: unlike technology companies, they were not raised on digital advertising.

“Google, Facebook and other tech savvy companies have that embedded in the fabric of what they are,” says Amy Mitchell, Deputy Director of the Pew Project. She notes that these firms are built to sell digital ads while news companies must constantly develop and adapt new software just to keep up. One intriguing question for the long term is whether the cash-flush tech giants will ever consider purchasing a traditional news company. From an advertising standpoint, Washington Post-style content run on Facebook or Google style software would be a game changer.