Classified advertising
Classified advertising is a form of advertising which is particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used by businesses, [1] albeit display advertising is more widespread. [Two]
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Advertisements in a newspaper are typically brief, as they are charged for by the line, and are one newspaper column broad.
Publications printing news or other information often have sections of classified advertisements; there are also publications that contain only advertisements. The advertisements are grouped into categories or classes such as "for sale—telephones", "wanted—kitchen appliances", and "services—plumbing", hence the term "classified". Classified ads generally fall into two types: individuals advertising sales of their individual goods, and advertisements by local businesses. Some businesses use classified ads to hire fresh employees. [Two]
One issue with newspaper classified advertising are that it doesn’t permit photos, [Trio] even however display ads, which do permit photos, can be found in the classified section. [Two]
In latest years the term "classified advertising" or "classified ads" has expanded from merely the sense of print advertisements in periodicals to include similar types of advertising on computer services, radio, and even television, particularly cable television but at times broadcast television as well, with the latter occurring typically very early in the morning hours. [ citation needed ]
Like most forms of printed media, the classified ad has found its way to the Internet, as newspapers have taken their classified ads online and fresh groups have discovered the benefits of classified advertising. [Two]
Internet classified ads do not typically use per-line pricing models, so they tend to be longer. They are also searchable, unlike printed material, tend to be local, [ citation needed ] and may foster a greater sense of urgency as a result of their daily structure and broader scope for audiences. Because of their self-regulatory nature and low cost structures, some companies suggest free classifieds internationally. Other companies concentrate mainly on their local hometown region, while others blanket urban areas by using postal codes. Craigslist.org was one of the very first online classified sites, and has grown to become the largest classified source, bringing in over fourteen million unique visitors a month according to comScore Media Metrix. [ citation needed ] A growing number of sites and companies have begun to provide specialized classified marketplaces online, catering to niche market products and services, such include boats, pianos, pets, and adult services, amongst others. In many cases, these specialized services provide better and more targeted search capabilities than general search engines or general classified services can provide. [ citation needed ]
A number of online services called aggregators crawl and aggregate classifieds from sources such as blogs and RSS feeds, as opposed to relying on by hand submitted listings.
Additionally, other companies provide online advertising services and devices to assist members in designing online ads using professional ad templates and then automatically distributing the finished ads to the various online ad directories as part of their service. In this sense these companies act as both an application service provider and a content delivery platform. Social classifieds is a growing niche. [ citation needed ]
In two thousand three the market for classified ads in the United States was $15.9 billion (newspapers), $14.1 billion (online) according to market researcher Classified Intelligence. The worldwide market for classified ads in two thousand three was estimated at over $100 billion. Perhaps due to the lack of a standard for reporting, market statistics vary concerning the total market for internet classified ads. The Kelsey Research Group listed online classified ads as being worth $13.Trio billion, [ citation needed ] while Jupiter Research provided a conservative appraisal of $Two.6 billion as of two thousand five [update] [ citation needed ] and the Interactive Advertising Bureau listed the net worth of online classified revenue at $Two.1 billion as of April two thousand six [update] . [ citation needed ]
Newspaper’s revenue from classifieds advertisements is decreasing continually as internet classifieds grow. Classified advertising at some of the larger newspaper chains dropped by 14% to 20% in 2007, while traffic to classified sites grew by 23%. [Four]
As the online classified advertising sector develops, there is an enhancing emphasis toward specialization. Vertical markets for classifieds are developing quickly along with the general marketplace for classifieds websites. Like search engines, classified websites are often specialized, with sites providing advertising platforms for niche markets of buyers or sellers.
