Sinking online sales have spurred newspapers such as USA Today to stop pushing pre-fab ad packages in favour of offering customised marketing services based on consumer behaviour, Editor & Publisher reported Monday.

The move comes as online revenue at newspapers sinks more than twice as much as for all media, further reported Jennifer Saba on Wednesday. For instance, for the second quarter of 2009, the Newspaper Association of America reported that newspaper ad sales fell 29 percent to US$6.8 billion, down from $9.6 billion last year, according to Marketing Charts, a financial newsletter.

For the prior quarter, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers reported that overall Internet advertising revenue dropped 5 percent to $5.5 billion.

Customised services may permit newspapers to compete for the targeted marketing dollars which the Wall Street Journal recently reported television broadcasters expect from similar techniques to be launched in 2011.