A Nielsen Scarborough study found newspapers reach 69% of the U.S. population each month, and that “81% of monthly newspaper readers engage with the print product, with 51% reading print exclusively. The remaining 49% reads a newspaper on at least one digital platform, with 30% reading both digital and print.”
Papers: A Medium You Don’t Want To Follow
In the minds of many folks, newspapers and over-the-air TV broadcasting are “old media” that will suffer the same fate: an ever-increasing slide to extinction. However, there is evidence, outlined in a report just this week, that their paths are diverging and broadcasting is in much better shape. And with ATSC 3.0 on the horizon, the prospects for stations to compete successfully with digital media grow even brighter.
John Oliver brought his brand of acerbic advocacy to newspaper journalism in Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight. In his monologue, he decries the profession’s endangerment and assails some of the more absurd turns its digital transition has taken, among them Tronc.
London agency ZenithOptimedia predicts that for the first time spending on mobile advertising will outpace spending on newspapers in the U.S. In 2015, mobile will attract $30.5 billion in spending, including social media, display, search and other subcategories, up 54% from last year. By contrast, newspaper spending will fall 7%, to $19.87 billion, an all-time low and less than half what was spent just seven years ago.
A new study from Oxford University finds that online sites beat newspapers as the preferred news source for every age group — including those over 55 years old.
Exclusives
U-T San Diego has been expanding its experiment with an online “television station,” which now streams video 24 hours a day online and on two local cable systems. The company won’t disclose audience metrics and the monetization strategy is vague, but in the newsroom, editors, reporters and videographers work to build what corporate leaders believe is the future of local media.
Millennials Still Want Their Newspapers
Despite the perception that the under-30 crowd is leaving newspapers and their websites behind for other digital news outlets, studies are finding that the newspaper is still a vital source of information for the millennials. Some 57% of those ages 18-34 read newspapers, in print or online, during the course of an average week. “There is no question that members of the younger generation tend to be more active in using digital media to seek and absorb information they consider relevant to their lives,” says Newspaper Association of America’s Jim Conaghan. “Newspapers continue to refine existing methods and invent new ones to reach younger generations through their digital platforms.”
The list of potential buyers for Tribune Co. newspapers is growing, with a Chicago-based private equity investor saying that he wants to see the company’s books. His name is Lee Mitchell, and while he’s not as well known as Rupert Murdoch, the conservative Koch brothers or others in the Tribune mix, his background could make him a contender.
Charles and David Koch, two of the world’s richest men, are interested in Tribune’s newspaper assets, which include the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, according to sources familiar with situation.
Newspaper groups and a handful of vendors see networks as the answer to filling a void in local online news video. At Digital First and Gannett, the route lies in producing and curating locally produced video and sharing it across their properties. Vendors such as AP and iNK Barrell Video Networks help papers ramp up local production and share in the resulting ad revenue.
The News Corp. CEO is interested in acquiring the two big metro dailies as owner Tribune Co. finally emerges from backruptcy, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. But News Corp. says the report is “wholly inaccurate.” One obstacle: regulations that limit ownership of TV stations and newspapers in the same markets. Through Fox, News Corp. owns two stations in Chicago and Los Angeles.
As more newspapers close the door on free access to their websites, some publishers are still waiting for paying customers to pour in. The numbers of readers signing up so far suggest that at many papers, “paywalls” aren’t about to reverse publishers’ deteriorating finances. Yet the results aren’t discouraging industry executives, who say their efforts are succeeding in shoring up the core print business after years of declines.
Newspapers surpassed broadcasters for the first time in the third quarter in total video minutes streamed and the number of video titles uploaded, according to the latest data from analytics firm TubeMogul and video-hosting service Brightcove.
