3 Signs of Hope for Newspapers
Recent history hasn’t been kind on the newspaper industry. Ad revenues dropped, then circulation fells, and then ad revenues dropped some more. It’s been so hard to watch that we even ran a 6 part series on how newspapers could save their own a**es.
Well, they’re certainly not out of the woods yet, but it looks like the worst of it just might possibly be over (just maybe). In recent months, newspapers have lost less than usual, have started implementing new revenue sources, and found new audiences.
1. Pulling Out of a Nosedive?
You know the saying that things are going to get worse before they get better? It looks to be shaping up just that way for newspapers.
Last week, Editor & Publisher reported that even though newspaper print and online revenue dropped 9.7 percent year-over-year in Q1 2010, it was the mildest drop in three years. “The 9.7% drop compares with a 28.3% year-over-year decline in the last quarter of 2009, and a 29% drop in Q3 2009.”
Now, of course, part of it probably has to do with there being fewer newspapers in 2010 to compete for ad sales. But it seems that the other part is newspapers finding new sources of revenue, and new ways to reach audiences.
2. Have Newspapers Found New Revenue?
First, classifieds revenues were lost to online competition. Then, a bunch of their print revenue as well. The newspapers couldn’t make up the difference from their own online impressions.
Well, you know what they say: if you can’t beat them, join them! And it seems like newspapers are trying to adopt some of the very marketing channels that have taken such a bite out of their print ad pie.
For starters, just this week, the media giant Hearst, confirmed that it’s acquiring digital agency iCrossing. Hearst’s motivation seems to be in “how iCrossing integrates search into its other digital marketing services.”
Also, Search Engine Land reported the other week, several US papers have partnered with marketing firms to offer “search engine marketing, e-mail, digital display, website, and geo-targeted print/flyers.”
Most recently, Gannett Newspapers partnered with the Utah-based agency Orange Soda to launch GannettLocal. The arrangement seems to be that Gannett provides the local sales teams and Orange Soda takes care of campaign execution.
In April, the third largest newspaper company in the US, the McClatchy Company announced a similar partnership with WebVisible. The press release also boasted that after a trial run in selected markets, “advertising sales [...] were roughly five times higher than the previous month” .
And given the logos on WebVisible’s partner page, it seems the only thing that remains unclear is who has more to gain by this trend — the newspapers or the agencies?
3. Have Newspapers Discovered New Audiences?
Just as newspapers are offering their advertisers new channels, they found a few themselves. And they’re also partnering with technology companies to access them.
For starters, the Canadian free daily newspaper franchise, Metro, partnered with FourSquare to deliver geo-targeted content based on a FourSquare user’s location. This content includes restaurant reviews, city tips, to-dos and articles — a virtual guide book to a neighborhood.
The newspaper industry has also adopted mobile as a direct distribution channel. As Spreed‘s Dave Coleman reported in February, the Globe and Mail were already serving 7.5 million views per month through its iPhone apps alone. These users were also opening their apps 2 times a day, 4-5 days a week, reading an average of 4 articles per session for a total of 8-10 articles per users per day.
Indeed, mobile news consumption seems to be approaching critical mass. The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently reported that 26 percent of all Americans (33 percent of cell phone owners) get some form of news via mobile devices. And nearly half of mobile news consumers have “downloaded an application that allows them to access news, weather, sports, or other information on their cell.”
At this rate, it looks like newspapers could end up making a lot more off of mobile than by offering search, display, and email services combined.
Potential or Portentous?
As much as things can be looking up for newspapers, this could also just only be the eye of the storm. For starters, the less you have to lose, the less you can lose in any given quarter. So newspapers might be drying out instead of bouncing back.
As for marketing services, newspapers not only have to sell the services, they have to sell themselves as a service provider. Basically, by the time enough people get used to the idea of newspapers as marketing agencies, it might be too late for most newspapers.
All in all, the industry isn’t back from the brink of extinction just yet. It’s taken a beating in recent years and is in a fragile state, so any other upset could very well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
-
http://www.montrealcopywriter.com Lesley
