How Severe Is The Print Newspaper Decline?
The ongoing shift from print to digital has upended the media industry, dragging many key players (including News Corp and the New York Times) into deep declines. The relevance of the print industry is consistently waning, as much of the population now uses digital platforms to get news information. This trend is more pronounced in developed countries such as the U.S. than in developing markets.
The below tables reinforce the idea of a gradually fading newspaper industry. The number of daily newspapers in the U.S. declined by almost 1% on an annual basis between 2011 and 2014. [1] In addition, the daily circulation of newspapers fell by 3.2% year-on-year from 2011-2015. This, in turn, resulted in a decline in newspaper advertisement and circulation revenue, led by print. In a bid to restore profitability, many players in the industry used various cost cutting measures such as layoffs, causing employment levels to fall over 5% y-o-y between 2011 and 2014. [2]
However, even in the age of digital media, most newspapers still get roughly 80 percent of their revenue from print display ads. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, many people still ignore online ads, which means newspapers can’t charge very much for them. [3] Consequently, these companies remain heavily reliant on print for much of their revenue. Moreover, as so much information is readily available on the internet for free, media companies have a hard time attracting paid subscribers.
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Another study by Nielsen shows that most newspaper reading still happens exclusively in print (51%). ((Newspapers: Fact Sheet, journalism.org, June 2016)) Only 5% of those who consume newspapers exclusively use mobile for reading news. Thus, despite the decline, they have remained relevant.
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- Newspaper declines accelerate, poynter.org, June 2016 [↩]
- Newsroom Employment Census, ASNE.org, July 2014 [↩]
- Newspapers: Fact Sheet, journalism.org, June 2016 [↩]