• Editor & Publisher, Friday, August 10, 2007 11:45 AM

Newspapers need to plan for the resulting automotive ad trends, which relate to the oil situation. For instance, higher fuel prices can lead to less driving, which means people keep their cars longer. A recent survey found that those who bought a car in the last year intend to hold onto it for eight years, compared with seven years in 2006, and just four years back in the 1980s.

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That trend presages a steep decline in auto sales and with multiple vendors trying to get their share of the shrinking market, newspapers might see some short-term increase in demand for new car ads, even as ones for used cars declines. But long-term, traditional car ad sales revenue is apt to disappear.

At the same time, sales of bicycles, motorcycles and motor scooters are jumping, adding new and growing categories of transportation products as possible sales appointment routes for newspaper ad sellers.

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