• by Tom Siebert , November 9, 2006

Times are tough for newspapers--and even their editors have acknowledged that one of the main channels of income could be history by the end of the next decade.

That was the case in England last week. At a panel for of the Society of Editors, editor Alan Rusbridger of the left-leaning Daily Guardian suggested that classified advertising would likely vanish from print newspapers by 2020.

Rusbridger said that print advertising was declining by roughly 9% a year, while Internet advertising was increasing by 50% annually.

The situation is similar in the United States, where an online triple play of job search sites, like Monster and Hotjobs.com; material-goods destinations, like eBay and Overstock; and Craigslist for housing and other goods, threaten classified ads' financial survival.

2020 might even be a conservative estimate, says Gary Kromer, director of research for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. However, the newspaper business is fighting back with strategic acquisitions. Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune purchased CareerBuilder, ShopLocal and Topix; jobs, shopping and search sites, respectively.

"We need to treat classified as we do news," Kromer says. "We need to be able to deliver it in whatever channel people want: online, cell phones, print."

Kromer says he is confident the newspaper business will be able to successfully negotiate the transition, as long as "we have the financial support to do that adequately."