Newspapers are missing an opportunity to use audio, video and other interactive media technologies according to a University of Missouri study of the automotive, employment and real estate classifieds at 24 newspapers of various sizes with an online presence, examining their interactive and rich media features, reports ClickZ. Though many newspapers have increased interactive and rich media features on their sites, "they appear to have gone after the low-hanging fruit, those features easiest to add," according to the research.

None of the newspapers studied use audio; video is deployed by 4.2 percent; audio/video clips are available on 8.3 percent; an IM chat feature is offered on 2.8 percent of newspaper classified sites. Email notification is a feature popular with online-only sites but is missing from most sites of newspapers.

When rich media was used in the classifieds, most often it was for the real estate category. Photos, animation, search functionality, and email or web-based forms are often deployed on the various categories of only larger papers.