Niches aren't scared of the Internet
While online advertising continues to pummel its competitors in print, one sect of print publishing is expanding. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports on how the growing market for niche publications works with the Web.
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Doug Krizner: These are challenging times for the print advertising business. The Internet has been siphoning a lot of ad dollars -- with one exception, as Stacey Vanek-Smith reports.
Stacey Vanek-Smith: Newspapers have seen circulation tank, and advertising dollars with it. But one part of the publishing industry is booming.
Tom Rosenstiel: Got to your local Barnes and Noble and look at the magazine stand. It's expanded.
Tom Rosenstiel directs the Project for Excellence in Journalism. He says magazines for niche interests like gourmet cooking and backpacking have exploded. And he says advertisers are gravitating to them more and more. They know they'll reach an audience that is interested in their product.
What's more, he says, niche publications are well positioned to leverage the Internet.
Rosenstiel: Readers of niche publications may be quite likely to fill out surveys, to have e-mail alerts sent to them. And the technology that is challenging print can be complimentary to a niche magazine rather than a threat.
Rosenstiel says readers of Healthy Cooking, for example, are more likely to visit the website for recipes and tips.
I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith for Marketplace.
