Google makes more money from ads than print media combined
The search giant generated $20.8 billion in ad revenue in the first six months of 2012, while newspapers and magazines in the U.S. made $19.2 billion, according to Statista.
The company found Google generated $20.8 billion in ad revenue in the first six months of 2012, while the whole U.S. print media industry -- newspapers and magazines -- made only $19.2 billion.
Statista did note, however, that the comparison is "obviously unfair" and shouldn't be judged scientifically. Google operates globally, while the company only looked at print media in the U.S.Still, it's a pretty interesting indication of where the print industry is going. The rise of the Web and the fall of print have been well documented, but Statista's chart makes this trend pretty evident. Several years ago, the print sector's ad revenue dwarfed Google's results. But print ad revenue has been falling pretty steadily since about 2006. Google, on the other hand, has seen the opposite effect over the past several years.
However, Google still faces some concerns of its own. The company last month reported somewhatlackluster resultsin its core business during the third quarter. Among the disappointments was a 15 percent year-over-year drop in advertising cost-per-click, the figure that measures the average amount advertisers paid Google for each time someone clicked on an ad. A 15 percent decline is pretty steep and is worse than analysts were expecting.
Correction at 6:30 a.m. PT November 13 The original figures from Statista were incorrect and have been updated. The new, corrected figures are roughly double the originally reported numbers. The premise of the story has not affected by the new, corrected figures.