Are online ads the answer for Newspapers?

US Newspaper ad sales continue their long decline, down 7.4 percent in the third quarter.

Ok this is a well established trend but what we all really want to know is will the shift to online replace the lost print ad revenues?.

NO - and not by a long way

While online ads keep growing up 21 percent to $773 million industrywide, it is not enough to make up for the decline in print ads. Print ads in the third quarter in US were $10.1 billion. That is $1 billion less than they were in the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, online newspaper ad sales rose only by $135 million. After six straight quarters of decline, print ad sales are at 1997 levels—lower if you adjust for inflation.