Newspapers Looking For Miracle Grow
As most of you know, newspaper executives are struggling with the loss of readership and, as a result, are practically giving away subscriptions to keep circulation numbers high (along with ad dollars). They’re also testing new strategies like linking to rivals.
In 2004, the Newspaper Association of America and the American Society of Newspaper Editors teamed up to develop an initiative called “Growing Audience: A Toolkit for Change.”
The mission is to provide deep understanding of consumer media usage and the marketplace and help executives develop audience-building strategies and execution tactics for both the newspaper and for new print and digital products.
Recently, I’ve been following the search for audience Miracle-Gro at growingaudience.com.
A report by Growing Audience [PDF, 660 KB, 7 pgs] underscores the fact that the world of centralized, one-way and scheduled media is fading fast.
According to the report, consumers want media on their terms and technology has empowered them to do that. Digital media has eliminated barriers to entry so that consumers can now find information most relevant to them from an array of sources – both professional journalists and “average Joes” who share a passion for a topic.
The report spits out some interesting statistics on the battle between new media and old media, including:
* The number of prime-time network TV watchers has declined 30 percent in the past 10 years.
* Viewership for the three nightly network newscasts declined 45 percent from 1980 to 2004.
* 59 percent of 6 -11 year olds used the Internet during the past 30 days.
* When 18-34 year olds were asked about their top media choices, 46 percent said the Internet and 35 percent said TV.
* Even older Americans are changing: 61 percent of those 55 and older say they use the Internet more this year than last and about 44 percent said they watch TV and read newspapers less.
* 39 percent of 18-34 year olds expect to increase their use of the Internet as a source of news over the next 3 years, compared to 14 percent for local TV news and 8 percent for newspapers.
* As of February 2005, Technorati was tracking 27 million blogs with 2 billion links, an increase of about 7 million blogs in just three months.
