One Publisher Applauds As Its Print Ads Wither

摘要

Like newspapers almost everywhere, Norwegian dailies VG and Aftenposten have watched their once-lucrative classified advertising sections shrivel as readers defect to websites where they can browse and post ads for free. That doesn't bother the papers' publisher, Oslo-based media group Schibsted. It also owns the website that lured away most of the classified ad business-and that site is more profitable than print ads ever were. "We weren't afraid to cannibalize ourselves," says Chief Executive Officer Rolv Erik Ryssdal about the group's decision in 1999 to spin off an online business called FINN.no that competes directly with its papers.