The newspaper is dead
The migration of readers from print to websites has been accelerated by the popularity of smart phones and tablets.
The newspaper is dead.
Yes, I said it, and I said it in a newspaper.
Before everyone gets upset and sends me negative tweets and posts lets all recognize that we need to figure out a way for the newspaper industry to evolve before it ceases to exist.
If you are one of the few who has yet to acknowledge that the newspaper is dead, here are a few arguments to consider.
Print: by the time a newspaper is printed it is already out of date. A digital platform can be updated in real time on any device. If something is wrong with the print version we have to “Stop the Presses.”
Newspaper are printed. This is a waste of time and money. The majority of people do not read the newspaper from front to back, or read the paper daily.
With digital, I know exactly which story had the most traffic at a specific time as well as the device it was viewed on. Newspapers create content without knowing what their users are actually reading or are interested in. The editor may have a gut feeling, but without real time analytics there is no way of knowing what articles peaked their readers’ interest.
Every week 500,000 trees are cut down to produce all of the Sunday papers across the U.S. This does not include the waste of water or greenhouse gasses produced, nor the trees cut down to produce papers put out on other days of the week. Why are we killing trees when we can have the same content delivered digitally in real time for fractions of a penny?
Delivery: The paper has to be printed, shipped, and delivered to each home. This involves a ton of logistics and costs compared to putting the information on a server and notifying users of stories via email, social media, and alerts. Think of all of the gas saved from delivery alone. A long time ago a paper boy on a bike delivered the paper. Now it comes in a car with people throwing the paper at your house, hoping it lands on your porch.
Reading: The newspaper is dirty by nature. When you are done reading the paper, there is nothing more annoying than having to go to the sink and wash the ink off your hands. A news paper has the same size font for every story. With digital you can select a larger font. Everyone has had a wet newspaper and knows what a pain it is.
When you are done reading the paper the old papers often go into a corner and eventually, hopefully, make their way into a recycle bin. How many times have you walked into someone else’s house to see a huge stack of papers collecting dust in the corner?
Advertising: According to the Newspaper Association of America, over the past six years for every $55 of advertising lost in print, newspapers have gained $1 in new digital revenue. This is huge. Did the newspaper industry learn nothing from the music industry? As an advertiser do you want to pay for an ad that does not have any real time analytics?
The typical newspaper reader is a “baby boomer.” The baby boomer generation is 48 to 67 years old. Advertisers like to target 18 to 49 year olds because of their disposable incomes. The audience for advertising is literally dying off.
Articles: Newspapers offer articles with text and images, often in black and white. With digital I can get text, images, audio, and video in full color and high quality. A newspaper is not just print when digital. It is a live broadcast multimedia newsroom. If I want to comment on an article in a newspaper I have to send a “letter to the editor.” By the time I respond my response is out of site and out of mind. There is also no way to keep me engaged and for me to communicate with other readers of that article.
Inline comments below an article allow me to communicate directly about an article in real time and give me notifications when another reader responds so I can read their view on the same article. This allows for the formation of a community around your news organization to be created. Think of it as the local church, bar, or gym in a virtual sense.
Gatekeepers: An editor of a newspaper is the gatekeeper, deciding what you should and should not read, based on what he or she thinks will be popular, not based on analytics of what is actually popular. With digital you can see what people do and do not read and adjust your content to your audience. You can truly find your audience based on your analytics.
So now you are either hating me even more, or maybe you have become persuaded and want to help.
Here are some solutions to save the newspaper:
Banner Ads: The publisher should think of newspapers as a banner ad. Try to break even on the newspaper with distribution and advertising while simultaneously promoting the benefits of the newspapers digital platform.
Advertising: create cross platform advertising sponsorship for stories across both print and digital.
“Tent pole” events: these allow newspapers to have sponsored events for their digital and print editions.
Calls to Action: Throughout the entire print edition have call outs for your readers to engage your brand on whatever platform they may use — Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, RSS, mobile apps… If you can get a user to subscribe you can tell them when you have new content. If you encourage a user to engage with you digitally they will come.
Create interactions on each and every print article that encourages a user to provide feedback on the article. Provide a link so a user can type it in and get to the digital version of the story so they can engage with the digital content and other readers.
Ask readers: “What are your thoughts?” Provide a poll. Subscribe to “Sports” to get daily sports stories”
Stories versus news: Create stories in the print edition that are timeless. Think of these “60 Minutes” news pieces as opposed to “Nightly News.” These “60 Minutes” stories should be published in the digital format with a sponsorship that goes across the print and digital version of the story.
The “Nightly News” stories should be published in real time, using digital. A recap can be put into print but by the time the story is in print it is out dated.
Mobile: By 2015 mobile will be the primary way users access the web. The mobile device is often the first thing a person touches when they wake up and the last thing before they go to bed. Make sure your site fully supports all mobile platforms.
We will always love the experience of reading a newspaper in the morning with a cup of coffee. This experience is a time-honored tradition that is evolving with our generations. We can pretend that this tradition is not going to die off or we can all help in the evolution of our newspapers.
Contribute to the evolution by subscribing to Easy Reader’s daily email update, liking Easy Reader on Facebook and following Easy Reader on Twitter.
Dave Andrews is president of Devious Media, a digital media consulting company. DeviousMedia.com. ER