Post by Rich Fisher on Feb 3, 2015 14:43:17 GMT -4
I was asked to day by someone about the newspaper industry and why do people still advertise in them if it's a dying thing. He isn't local to our area, but his choices where he lives are very similar to what we have here. I figured that I would put my response in here while it's still fresh in my head...
Newspapers as a whole are losing ground to new media (internet based), but it's the larger papers that are getting hit the hardest. Why wait for big news stories when you can get them in an instant right on your computer / phone / tablet, etc. That said, some small community oriented papers are still doing well. It's just a matter of time before their readers start dwindling too, but for now they are ok. A good example locally is the Bay Times. They are a weekly that covers very local issues and topics. They have pictures and articles of local school kids doing great things in sports, community service, etc. They cover school stuff, have pics of local events, etc. They have a paid subscriber base of something like 8000 readers, plus they are sold in the local stores. When people pay for something, they tend to use use it. Basically the Bay Times gets to (this is just a guess, but probably correct) around 9000 people weekly. Most likely around 8000 actually read it, which is pretty good. Their readers are invested in the product because they pay for it. Likewise, the freebie papers that are mailed out to 30,000 people probably have fewer readers than the Bay Times because people are not invested in the product. The mailers main selling point is that big 30,000 number, but it's pretty meaningless when you don't know who's actually reading it. My example is the "Value-Pac" that everyone gets mailed to them. Do you read it? Every time? Probably not. The paper with the paid subscriber number that is a quarter of the mailer's big number is the better number because it is as close to a 'proven readership' number as you can get. There's a pretty good reason that the Bay Times has been around this long and hasn't changed much over the years. Their competitors are scrambling to copy established new media and tweak their look constantly. Not a good sign.
Newspapers as a whole are losing ground to new media (internet based), but it's the larger papers that are getting hit the hardest. Why wait for big news stories when you can get them in an instant right on your computer / phone / tablet, etc. That said, some small community oriented papers are still doing well. It's just a matter of time before their readers start dwindling too, but for now they are ok. A good example locally is the Bay Times. They are a weekly that covers very local issues and topics. They have pictures and articles of local school kids doing great things in sports, community service, etc. They cover school stuff, have pics of local events, etc. They have a paid subscriber base of something like 8000 readers, plus they are sold in the local stores. When people pay for something, they tend to use use it. Basically the Bay Times gets to (this is just a guess, but probably correct) around 9000 people weekly. Most likely around 8000 actually read it, which is pretty good. Their readers are invested in the product because they pay for it. Likewise, the freebie papers that are mailed out to 30,000 people probably have fewer readers than the Bay Times because people are not invested in the product. The mailers main selling point is that big 30,000 number, but it's pretty meaningless when you don't know who's actually reading it. My example is the "Value-Pac" that everyone gets mailed to them. Do you read it? Every time? Probably not. The paper with the paid subscriber number that is a quarter of the mailer's big number is the better number because it is as close to a 'proven readership' number as you can get. There's a pretty good reason that the Bay Times has been around this long and hasn't changed much over the years. Their competitors are scrambling to copy established new media and tweak their look constantly. Not a good sign.