Borell: Better Sales Performance at Media Companies With Digital-Only Teams

Though the recent trend for traditional publishers has been to consolidate digital and print sales forces, a new study by local marketing research firm Borrell Associates suggests that pubs with digital-only sales teams bring in a lot more revenue.

"The research firm’s survey of 230 local sales managers in late 2011 indicated that companies with dedicated digital salespeople outperformed those without by a factor of two-and-a-half times in gross online revenue per rep ($185,900 vs. $73,300). Among TV stations -- many of which have no sales reps dedicated exclusively to selling online advertising -- those with online-only reps average three times the gross online revenue ($208,200 versus $70,300)."