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Sun, April 26, 2009
With all of the recent changes in the newspaper industry, a new question is being asked as many begin to expand their presence online – does a print edition drive significant online readership? Last month, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer shuttered its print edition to move exclusively online. A little over a month after this change, it’s now being reported that SeattlePI.com (the official site for the former newspaper) experienced a 23% drop in website traffic while 75% of the top 30 online editions of newspapers saw double-digit upticks in traffic. Does this mean that the print edition was having that much influence on web traffic? If so, you can bet your bottom dollar that the other print publications exploring moving to a digital-only format had better readjust their website traffic projections upon making such a move. Our friends at the NY Times continue to lead the pack and were up 7% from last year at this time.
For what it’s worth – we still are yet to see a strong connection between print and online.
Read on.
Tue, April 29, 2008
With so much money spent on advertising in print for live entertainment, I saw this article to be particularly interesting.
In what I would suspect will be an increasing trend, The Capital Times, one of Wisconsin’s leading daily newspapers, will suspend its daily printed newspaper and move its operations almost exclusively online. According to the article, “the staff will also produce two print products: a free weekly entertainment guide inserted in Madison’s remaining daily newspaper, The Wisconsin State Journal, and a news weekly that will be distributed with the paper.) While the business plan is still really being created for the move, it’s clear that they are proactively trying to address what, to me, seems like the critical issue being faced by daily newspapers - remaining relevant.
Let’s start with the basic fact that the news that goes to print is way-too-often old news by the time it hits newsstands. The news (aside from feature stories) has to be posted throughout the day on publishers websites if they expect their editorial to remain relevant. The speed of news reaching consumers moves faster than ever – publications have to break the news on their website first if they expect to survive. In addition, news in print that you pay for is available for free online. Both of these points are, in many ways understandably, self-inflicted wounds.
So, when you add up the fact that consumers have less time in their day, more options to consume media and less disposable income why would a consumer pay for a daily newspaper if they can get the same content online when they want it, in a quicker way and for free?
I don’t think the distribution channel is necessarily the big issue. I think plenty of people read newspapers (our Dot project showed many Sunday Times readers) – they just don’t rely on it as much for daily news. Same goes for the nightly news on TV - it’s painful to watch as it feels like a wrap-up to news you’ve already heard about from 10 different sources that day.
Times are changing rapidly and I think this move by The Capital Times is just the start of what is yet to come. If this is a good thing or a bad thing, I'm not sure.
Read On
Mon, September 17, 2007
Well, it’s official – the NYTimes.com is waiving it’s paid service. I guess the rumor was true.
Let me start with saying that I’m a fan of the NY Times online. They have a great group of people that we work with and their online advertising has shown proven results in the past for us. Also, I love the editorial.
But, I am deeply concerned about this move. With more open access, comes a less-targeted audience. When I say less-targeted, I’m saying you are not talking to the traditionally more affluent ‘Times Reader.' You’re talking to someone interested in that particular story they are reading – the new audiences they will be pulling through search engines have no brand connection to the NY Times editorial. There is a large difference in the audiences and I think you will see the effect in the advertising results. I totally get the need to expand revenue channels but they must think long-term. Why not create stronger connections between the paper in print and online? Why not create real services online that warrant payment other than just the content? Why not create more inventory within the existing content they are offering?
I don’t know why it frustrates me so much, because the decision they are making really is consistent with what the rest of the industry is doing. I guess overall, everything just feels like a short-term, knee-jerk reaction. Print advertising is down – shrink the newspaper. Overall revenue is down, give away the content to create more of the advertising inventory that is selling right now. But what’s the bigger, long-term plan? What’s the plan in building equity as a brand?
Again, I’m actually one of the ‘believers’ in the NY Times print and online edition both from a personal and business standpoint. But, the assumption that online advertising rates along with effectiveness will continue to increase is simply not something I would bet on.
Read On
Sat, August 18, 2007
I don’t know about you, but something depresses me about the slightly slimmer NY Times. It just doesn’t feel the same. I’m a long-time reader and will continue to be, but I’m deeply concerned about the future of the newspaper. The NY Post is reporting that the New York Times Online is opening up their ‘Times Select’ content so consumers don’t have to pay to view it. While for consumers this sounds great, I think this move just feeds into the bigger problem with publishing content for the web. Instead of trying to build value for consumers to get their news from the NYTimes.com, they may soon be simply giving it away for free. Maybe it’s just a rumor – but I think good content can and should be paid for over time. In short, it feels like a knee-jerk reaction and one that concerns me as a daily reader.
Here’s a rough critic’s view from the Alley Insider on the future outlook of the NY Times. It’s an interesting (not sure how accurate) look at the financial outlook. Say it ain't so.
Read On
Tue, May 08, 2007
Here is a great article that was sent to me from Las Vegas marketing guru Debbi Medsker that I thought was quite interesting which covers newspaper website audiences. Granted, it was released by the Newspaper Association of America which is like the NRA saying guns save lives, but overall we’ve seen a pretty solid response working with the leading Newspapers websites (i.e., NYTimes.com) that we think there is a lot of truth to the figures below. Thanks Debbi for the lead.
- Newspaper Web site visitors are online much more often than other Internet users. 72.6 percent are online every day, versus just 57.8 percent of overall Internet users. In addition, 87.8 percent of newspaper Web site visitors are online five or more times each week.
- They are more likely to make purchases online than other Internet users.
- Top items for online shopping in the past six months by newspaper Web site users include books or music (58 percent), clothing (57 percent), airline tickets (53 percent), hotel accommodations (50 percent), electronics (49 percent), and event tickets (48 percent) (NAA, Power Users, 2006).
- More newspaper Web site visitors had broadband Wi-Fi access at home or at work than the general Internet using population, meaning they spend more productive time online and they are more likely to watch video and interact with other rich media. More than half of newspaper Web site visitors have college degrees, compared to just 35 percent of non-visitors (NAA, Power Users, 2006).
- More than 42 percent of consumers say they are motivated to begin an online search after viewing an advertisement in a newspaper (BIGResearch, Simultaneous Media Survey, 2007).
- Advertising credibility is a positive factor for newspaper Web sites. Among newspaper Web site visitors, almost one-third say they are more likely to trust advertising from this source than from anywhere else on the Internet (NAA, Power Users, 2006).
- Among newspaper site visitors who own Treos, Blackberries or other portable e-mail devices, 48 percent are very or somewhat interested in news or event information to these devices, while 18 percent are interested in advertising and product offers (NAA, Power Users, 2006).
Click here to read the full story.
Tue, December 12, 2006
So, we know the theatre world loves the 40-50 year old women as a ticket buyer. The question always lingers on how we reach them. Here’s an interesting study on working mothers that sheds some interesting light on their media consumption habits. In short, the study says “working mothers are spending less and less time with television and newspapers but, radio, the Internet and direct mail still command their attention.”
Read on.
Sun, December 10, 2006
Score one for print! While print advertising continues to take punches to the gut in the current market space, here's some research that shows that print advertising should be an important part of your marketing mix. According to a new study, "almost two-thirds of American adults actively check advertising at least weekly for things they might want to buy, but they are selective about when and where they check advertising." The study goes on to say that "Sunday is by far the most likely day for about one half of shoppers to consult advertising, while Saturday is a distant second, noted by one-fifth of consumers. The only other days in double figures are Wednesday and Friday, at 13 percent each." So, maybe those Sunday Times ads aren't as crazy as some people suggest?
Read on.
Wed, August 02, 2006
Has the online news growth hit a wall? Yes, it's clear that far more Americans use the Internet to get their news than a decade ago. But, what's not being talked about is that the rate of the online news audience growth is slowing rapidly.
According to the study by the Pew Research Center, nearly one in three Americans regularly used the Internet to get their news in 2006, compared to one in 50 in 1996. That number is about the same as it was two years ago.
It's not just online news that's facing growth issues.
The study also pointed out that four in 10 Americans reported reading a newspaper "yesterday," down from 50 percent a decade ago and down from 71 percent reported by a Gallup survey in 1965. "Even the highest estimate of daily newspaper readership -- 43 percent for both print and online readers -- is still well below the number reading a print newspaper on a typical day 10 years ago," the study said.
So both online news and newspaper seem to be facing issues gaining new readers. Maybe it's not the delivery mechanism that's the problem.
Click here to read more.
Wed, July 19, 2006
There are clearly three things working against the print world right now: a slump in advertising sales, declining circulation and rising costs of newsprint. I think over time, supply and demand will ultimately stabilize the market for print advertising. Rates will have to come down to match the decline in circulation but I think print will remain a solid piece of the media budget for the foreseeable feature. The good news for some newspapers is that they are currently seeing a rapid increase in their online advertising sales. According to the story, "The Chicago Tribune said its online revenue grew 27 percent in the second quarter, and CEO Dennis FitzSimons told an investor conference last month that Tribune hopes to see online advertising make up between 12 percent and 15 percent of newspaper revenues by 2010. Other major newspaper publishers reporting this week, including Gannett Co. and McClatchy, experienced similarly fast growth in online revenues. But many analysts remain skeptical about whether that growth will outpace the advertising lost to Internet-only destinations such as Yahoo and Craigslist."
Click here to read more.
Sun, June 18, 2006
According to a new report from the Newspaper Association of America, advertising expenditures for newspaper web sites increased by 34.9 percent to $613 million in the first quarter versus the same period a year ago. Print advertising is not seeing the saming growth. According to the report, spending for print ads in newspapers totaled $10.5 billion, up 0.3 percent versus the same period a year earlier.
Click here to read more.
Thu, June 01, 2006
In an effort to expand both it's coverage and it's base of readers, the San Diego Union-Tribune is now offering an 'all-San Diego-music all-the-time streaming radio station'. The paper has already aggressively moved a lot of it's content online and this just seems to be another channel to build advertising revenue. According to the story, they already have advertisers lined up. Let's see if this is still up and running a year from now. I find it hard to believe that they will be able to effectively compete with the local radio stations especially as many of them shift their operations online.
Click here to read more.
Tue, May 23, 2006
Print advertising is really taking a beating right now - especially the New York Times.
"Nobody reads newspapers anymore" is a common phrase heard in many
meeting we sit in. "People get their news online."
While most research supports the claim that more and
more people are getting their news online, that doesn't mean that print
advertising, especially the New York Times, is no longer a
viable channel to reach ticket buyers. The circulation is
over 1.68 million readers for the Sunday Times. (view media kit as a .pdf)
Personally, I think the biggest issue print advertising
will face is maintaining their current ad rates. The statistics
show that that less people are turning to newspapers to get their news
so I think it's going to be hard to maintain rates with a trend of
declining readership and an increase supply in competing media.
The way news travels has changed and so will the way
people get their news. The concept of daily news delivered in
print will continue to change simply because as a business model it
won't make sense if everything continues in the direction that it's
currently moving.
The jury is still out on the future of print advertising. Things change - things adapt - nobody can predict the future.
But, to get more insight into the topic, I sat down with the creative mastermind of SpotCo Drew Hodges to get his take on the current state of print advertising as well as his thoughts on some other topics.
Click here to read the interview.
Fri, February 10, 2006
According to a new report, "the average online consumer spends the same amount of time on the Web, as they do on TV." So, what does that mean for print? Not good news.
According to Jupiter Research, "even the most intensive users of newspapers and magazines spend less time reading these publications than they do online or watching TV."
The research goes on show how the Internet is displacing the use of other media, such as radio, magazines and books. Books are being hit the worst, with 37 percent of all online people reporting that they spend less time reading books because of their online activities.
To us, this doesn't necessarily mean we should spend significantly more in online advertising. We believe this shows the importance of keeping a well balanced media plan that supports all media with a consistent messaging strategy.
Click here to read the story.
Fri, February 03, 2006
The web presence of The New York Times has moved from being 'ancillary' to being 'core' according to Arthur Sulzberger Jr, Chairman and Publisher, The New York Times at a recent World Economic Forum.
Look out - that may be the code word for "raise rates" and to lower the gap between print revenue and online revenue.
It's important to note that while the print version of The New York Times still provides most of the revenue, there are actually more readers accessing the online version of the publication.
The reporters also added the following which we found interesting:
"Similarly, Sulzberger said, readers who might drift to [news] aggregators at first would always come back to the Times for quality news. The average reader of the daily version of The New York Times is 43 years old; for the Sunday version, he or she is 45. Sulzberger said that these numbers have not changed in a decade. To him this indicates that teenagers may get their content from the Internet, but when they begin to have to rely on information later in life, they go to the Times."
From an editorial standpoint we would agree with the above statement. But, they better hope their technology keeps up with the demands of the younger generation if they expect this trend to continue.
Click here to read the full story.
Thu, November 17, 2005
Well, since it's launch of a paid subscription service, NYTimes.com has signed on 135,000 new paid subscribers for their TimesSelect program. This is a strong sign towards a successful path for The New York Times Online and may set the way for many others to jump to a paid model.
While this doesn't directly affect the arts and entertainment sections online today, their paid model is something we should all keep an eye on.
Click here to read more.
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