Newspapers Have Lost Their Future To Internet Media
March 13th, 2008
New research from comScore confirms one of the more important new media trends - that young people are abandoning newspapers for Internet media.
As a result, newspaper readership is getting smaller and older.
“That current generations are growing up getting their news online for free is an indicator that print circulations are likely to continue their decline,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore.
Younger News Consumers Less Likely to Read Print Newspapers
Heavy print newspaper readers show a strong skew towards older age segments, while the non-newspaper reader segments skew younger.
- Those age 65 and older are nearly 3 times more likely (index of 296) than average to read the print edition of newspapers 6 times per week.
- Those age 18-24 are 38 percent more likely than average to not read a print newspaper at all during a typical week.
Non-Newspaper Readers are Heavy Online News Consumers
Just as interesting: people that have abandoned newspapers are some of the heaviest online media users:
- Based on their heavier than average visitation across most key news sites, those who do not read print versions of newspapers are not necessarily light news consumers.
- Print news sites have a stand-alone brand presence in the online world. For example, the Web sites for three of the largest U.S. city newspapers – the New York Times, LA Times and Chicago Tribune – show above average visitation from both heavy newspaper readers and non-readers.
- TV news brands are also heavily visited by non-print newspaper readers, underscoring the importance of sight, sound and motion to the digital news experience. Non-readers were 29 percent more likely than the average Internet user to visit FoxNews.com and 15 percent more likely to visit CBS News Digital.
Trends Favor Online News Sources
The shift from print to Internet presents a unique opportunity for online news providers.
“Non-newspaper readers are a particularly important segment to reach because they are heavier than average news consumers – they just prefer to consume it in a digital format,” notes Flanagan. “That they are receptive to print, TV, and Internet news brands indicates a broad opportunity online, but the brands that will ultimately win over these key news consumers are the ones that successfully integrate cutting edge digital content with high quality journalism.”
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March 14th, 2008 at 5:32 am
[…] No deber??a ser novedad, pero lo es, seg??n comScore los j??venes entre 18 y 24 a?±os pr?°cticamente no miran los peri??dicos impresos. ← Anterior | Inicio Comparte esta anotaci??n Imprimir […]
March 15th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
The newspaper industry is going through a big transition right now from a manufacturing focus to multi channel digital service business. The online reader base is growing rapidly for the Newspaper Websites but it’s not enough to counter the huge losses they are taking in print ad revenue. If the Newspapers aren’t able to adapt to this rapidly changing environment then we could all lose out on the quality journalism that these true journalists provide.
But content is king and these companies have built long lasting brands in their communities. They’ll need to focus on quality niche local content and embrace new technology rapidly. They’ll need to get their content out to where it can get exposure with young people (social networks). Providing high quality community focused news is what they can do better than anybody. While there may be a number of papers that don’t survive, overtime I think the industry will be just fine.
March 15th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
[…] No es novedad esta afirmaci??n, pero para comScore lo es. Los j??venes de 18 a 24 a?±os no miran los peri??dicos impresos. Y es la pura verdad. […]
April 7th, 2008 at 3:00 am
I donot think so Because News paper have different standpoint and viewers also , more u know about Internet and News here Navtej Kohli IT Blog