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Top 10 Newspapers That Will Fold Or Go Digi By 1/10, Courtesy of TIME
Read it and shake your head – because, again, with this kind of thought (that advertisers will soon realize that no one clicks on Internet ads and will then come back to the newspapers and save them – no, really, that’s what’s being suggested) being proffered by the professional journalist atmosphere, they’re only tempting the fates as they scrunch the blinders tighter.
Original story here, where they write a little blurb about the failing health of each of the ten.
And the list from the first link in this post:
Time’s predictions for the next US papers to face the chop:
1. The Philadelphia Daily News
2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune
3. The Miami Herald
4. The Detroit News
5. The Boston Globe
6. The San Francisco Chronicle
7. The Chicago Sun-Times
8. NY Daily News
9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram
10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer
You can pull those blinders as tight as you want, but just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Cross-post from Writes Like She Talks.
4 Responses to “Top 10 Newspapers That Will Fold Or Go Digi By 1/10, Courtesy of TIME”
Sales from banner ads on news sites and even click-through numbers have been pathetic from the beginning. I'm not at all shocked that advertisers don't want to keep funneling money into that.
I can see that too – but do you agree that they'd go back to newspapers? I just don't see that but I don't know – what do you think?
Speaking as one of the drudges who works in marketing, it's a question of target market and revenue streams. There are still local advertisers who buy ads in the hard copy version of the papers, but they pay less when subscriptions go down. When you offer the content for free on line (and I know how much some of you hate hearing about this) then subscriptions drop. That's not a theory or a debate point… it's what has happened across the board. That means that you need to make up for the revenue you are losing from your hard copy advertisers by way of online advertising fees.
Unfortunately, advertisers don't want to pay for targeted ads because they simply don't produce traffic and sales results, so the papers are losing money. They can either find an entirely new revenue stream (a trick they have all failed at thus far) or return to their old model. Just put teasers on line and only offer the full content in the hard copy. Your local audience will hopefully come back in sufficient numbers that you can regain revenue from increasing subscription base. If that doesn't work, you are basically out of luck. They have already tried offering pay only content on line. It doesn't work. Internet consumers are simply not accustomed to paying for online content and nothing is convincing them to do so in droves. (with the constant and obvious exception of the pornography industry which still thrives.)
Unfortunately, the TV networks will probably keep offering their content online as well as on air, as their revenue model is entirely different than newspapers and magazines. This is good news for bloggers and such, who should still be able to poach actual journalism to put to our own use, but it lowers the incentive for readers to come back to the fold. It may indeed be nearing the end of the dead tree press except a few specialized outfits which are already pay only, such as the Wall St. Journal and the Economist. Sad to see, but it's not looking good at this point. Even the NY Times may go down by next year from what I hear.
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