When Colin Iberti wants to advertise a movie sneak preview or a band coming to play on campus, he doesn’t buy an ad in the newspaper ““ he logs onto Facebook.
Iberti, who is campus events commissioner for the undergraduate student government, and other advertisers are increasingly moving toward online outlets such as Facebook and Craigslist ““ a trend that’s hit college newspapers especially hard.
Falling ad revenue has led to budget deficits and cuts at independently-funded college newspapers around the country, including the Daily Bruin.
But for Iberti, the decision to advertise online is all about money.
“It’s definitely more cost-effective,” he said. “For us (paper advertising) really got out of hand.”
Iberti’s Campus Events Commission used to promote its events primarily by advertising in the Daily Bruin, distributing fliers and placing posters and signboards around campus.
Now, the commission uses a mix of paper and online advertising, and Iberti said the switch has saved them $12,000 a year on advertising expenditures ““ Campus Events now spends $8,000 per year promoting events, compared to the $20,000 they used to spend on paper advertising.
“With the cost of concerts and events, you really want to be putting the money toward that (rather than toward advertising),” he said.
But the picture is less rosy from the newsroom perspective.
Arvli Ward, UCLA’s student media director, said the drop-off in advertising from campus organizations such as student government has been dramatic in recent years.
Until about three years ago, the Undergraduate Students Association Council spent nearly $115,000 a year buying ads in the Daily Bruin, whereas last year the council spent just $30,000, Ward said.
Other organizations such as Associated Students UCLA and the university administration no longer spend as much as they used to on newspaper ads either, he added.
Justin Brown, vice president of sales for the Stanford Daily, said his newspaper has been luckier in this regard.
The Stanford Daily has not experienced a significant decline in ad sales, and Brown attributed this at least partly to consistent business from the university.
“We have pretty strong relationships with university departments, so they’re pretty stable (in terms of advertising),” he said.
Though the Daily Bruin avoided more drastic measures like cutting staff or giving up financial independence, the loss of ad revenues was at least partially responsible for three years’ worth of serious financial trouble for UCLA Student Media, Ward said.
“The biggest reduction we made was the number of papers we published,” Ward said. The Daily Bruin now publishes 10,000 papers per day, compared to about 20,000 several years ago.
Ward said it is important to note that advertisers are not necessarily leaving college newspapers for specific Web sites.
As technology has improved, organizations such as university departments and USAC have developed better Web sites that allow them to reach students directly.
“It’s a different story for each organization,” he said. “Advertisers aren’t necessarily moving to the internet, but the internet enables them to do different things.”
Iberti said he believes online advertising has some unique advantages.
“With Facebook, you can really target who you message,” he said. “If you have a band coming, you can advertise to the people who like that band.”
Ward questioned whether Web sites such as Facebook really are more effective in reaching students, citing research that concluded that 32 percent of UCLA students say they read the Daily Bruin at least four days per week.
Brown said though he still believes college newspapers are among the best ways to reach the student audience, he understands some of the appeal of online advertising.
“You can track it a lot better,” he said. “You can see exactly how many people have clicked on your ad, how many people have viewed your ad.”
Ward said to make up for the revenue loss, the Daily Bruin and other college newspapers are pursuing new strategies to attract advertisers.
“What we’re trying to do is become a full-service marketing partner with local business,” he said.
For example, the Daily Bruin may allow advertisers to buy space on newspaper kiosks.
Regardless, he said he believes online advertising and Facebook are not the right avenues to pursue.
“For us, online is not the answer,” Ward said. “Online is just one tool we want to use to reach our audience.”