They're selling more print and interactive features to online papers and other sites, which usually pay less than print clients but constitute business that barely existed five years ago. TMS president David Williams notes that his syndicate constantly studies the Internet to see what content appeals most to Web visitors. One young Web player is the 1996-founded iSyndicate, which distributes content to over 6,000 sites. There's a rising number of other companies and individuals syndicating exclusively or mostly to Web sites. And syndicates have their own sites that they use for purposes such as promotion and delivery.
Some syndicates also have clients in broadcasting and other areas.
We view syndication in a very broad sense, says Williams. An increasing number of features for print papers have a computer element. And more cartoonists are using computers to help create comics and deliver them to syndicates. Another trend is the slow rise in minority-created strips. A decade ago, there were two or three.