It is entirely conceivable that in the not too distant future our daily newspapers might actually have to be renamed daily newsdigitals. As more and more people are using the Internet as their source for news and communication, old fashioned newspapers and magazines are finding their circulation numbers dropping. Of course these circulation numbers are based on the hard copy numbers of their editions and not the copies that are served up as downloads. People still want to read newspapers and magazines; they are just reading them in an entirely different way.
Once surfing the Internet became a daily accepted use of computers, it became obvious to publishers that in order to stay in business they would have to provide online versions of their product. Now those same publishers are racing to keep up with the advancements in technology specifically in the form of hand held devices such as the IPad, Droid and Iphone. Each one of those operating systems can support download app versions of magazines and newspapers. The question for publishers becomes how to get users to pay for their product. The answer might once again be found in the technology.
At any popular website site, a visitor will be presented with all kinds of advertising in the form of banner or pop-up ads. For all practical purposes, a website visitor is essentially a captive audience. You can’t scan past an ad that is embedded in the code of the Internet site like you could on a recorded television program. Newspaper and magazine publishers are putting this same kind of technology to work in their digital downloads. On some level this is more practical then taking an ad out in a newspaper. Once again it’s about having a captive audience. In a newspaper, if you turn the page your ad is forgotten. But if it’s a banner ad, it will be seen.