The popularity of online newspaper products has fallen with real estate advertisers, according to this article in ClickZ and the reasons why are worth paying attention to. The article lists two primary reasons why real estate agents are staying away from online newspaper products and they are both reasons we have mentioned in the Mediabids' blog before in other contexts: too often the prices being offered are out of line with the audience and with competing sites; and the packaging with print oftentimes creates a burdensome, confusing ad buying process. Here is part of the story:

"Over 60 percent of the 200 real estate agents studied for Advanced Interactive Media Group's Real Estate Advertising 2009 report said they do not plan to spend any money on online newspaper ad products this year. Almost the same portion said paper sites are not effective for leads. The AIM study was conducted with support from real estate industry publication Inman News.

There are two primary factors contributing to the failure of newspaper publishers to offer value to real estate advertisers, says the report. One is bundling, the practice of selling print and online ads together as a package. For some newspapers, "The only way you can get online is to buy something in print," explained report author and AIM principal, editorial director Jim Townsend. "It's a model that's eating itself." In earlier days, newspaper sites offered online advertising as value-adds, essentially providing them for free when advertisers bought print ads.

Pricing is another contributing factor. A lot of paper publishers still set display ad prices based on their presence in their local markets, even though advertisers can buy geographically-targeted display ads for far less through national sites and networks. "They think the model they had 10 years ago or even 5 years ago is still something they can use," suggested Townsend"