Monday, March 21, 2005

Paper v web in classies struggle

EBay recently launched free classified Web sites in seven international markets including Germany, China and Japan. Those new Kijiji-branded sites mimic Craigslist.

Moves like these are causing havoc with newspapers, many of which have fought back with online versions of their publications -- complete with classifieds.

The Newspaper Association of America expects the market for print newspaper classified advertising to grow 5.2 percent to $17.4 billion this year.

But newspaper market share is falling amid intense competition from a range of players, including Web sites and Internet search companies, as well as radio and television, niche publications and Yellow Pages providers, Zollman said.

- Reuters

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