The future of newspapers
- Posted by Kati on March 10th, 2004 filed in Everything else
{ Slightly off-topic post. }
Ever since i have been active in online marketing, there was one buzzword or rather phrase that has survived even the dotcom boom to turn up in nearly each report, intro article or book that deals with the phenomenon of the Internet. “The Internet brings huge changes to all industries, the best examples are online banks and the decline of newspapers.” or “The Internet will kill the printed press.” or “We will read our morning paper on the web.”
Today i came across the first non-bullsh**, sober, realistic and very well thought-out piece on what the Internet really did and does and will do to the newspaper industry. The author proposes three ideas to the industry to adapt to the new reality to survive, some of them we’ve heard before, some are new.
Here’s the gist:
1. Personalize the news offerings for each reader.
2. Convergence of offline, online and wireless editions.
3. (this is the best point i think so i quote directly) “Focus less on the industry’s ability to produce content and more on its unique service of delivering to people a complete package of content”
It’s a long article but well worth reading, especially because the concepts are hard to summarize in a few sentences.
OJR article: What Newspapers and Their Web Sites Must Do to Survive
March 14th, 2004 at 19:27
Vin’s articles are always a good look at what the future holds — he’s an excellent futurist. However, it’ll be a long, long time before the news media adopts the ideas in this article for two reasons: philosophy and revenue model.
Vin touches briefly on the fact that traditional journalists have a philosophy that everyone should have equal access to all the news they decide to publish.
Having worked in busy newsrooms, I understand the pressures that reporters and editors face in deciding what to publish — and what to avoid publishing.
We are occasionally contacted by newspapers about using our personalized content software to publish personalized Web and personalized e-mail newsletter versions of their news. Once the newspaper’s senior management hears of the idea it’s quickly quashed.
The reason? Personalization violates their belief that the editors should control content, not the readers.
The other reason newspapers avoid personalized content is that it reduces the number of opportunities to run ads, which would reduce revenue.
Despite attempts by publishers to control what their readers see, Google News and Topix are giving readers the news they want.
Marketers, on the other hand, have a strong interest in quickly stripping away content about products that a customer is not interested in. This allows customers to focus on quickly making an informed purchase decision.
It’s these differences in philosophy and revenue that have lead to two different types of content management tools. Publishers have the “shovelware” tools that serve all content in a non-trackable environment. While marketers use personalized content tools that track every interaction. Personalization tools help marketers listen to what customers want and observe what customers actually do in order to learn how to better meet customer needs.
March 20th, 2004 at 20:27
I completely agree with what Cliff Allen says. It’s why I’m pessimistic about newspaper industry’s survival.
March 21st, 2004 at 13:17
“Personalization violates their belief that the editors should control content, not the readers.”
Uhmmm, i know this sounds idealistic, but maybe they should just catch up to the rest of the world and accept that it is the readers (consumers) who are in control now? The next generation newspaper management who have grown up with the Internet will most likely *know* this and will adapt to the new environment, won’t they?
“The other reason newspapers avoid personalized content is that it reduces the number of opportunities to run ads, which would reduce revenue.”
If the content is personalized on the newspaper’s own property (website) - e.g. not through services like Google news - then it greatly INCREASES revenue potential because of precise targetting.