The good old days. Image from Flickr.
For the past 150 years, newspapers and other traditional media organizations have existed in a very comfortable space. Massive amounts of local and national advertiser business led to healthy profit margins for these businesses and their owners. The web and new media organizations have left these businesses scrambling for new opportunities and ways to leverage their remaining business assets to stay afloat.
Internet as a distribution channel
A reality that most traditional media businesses seem unable to grasp is the notion that information is free. People will go to where they can get it for free. Charging for an “online subscription” drives would-be audiences to consume information from other — free — sources. And make no mistake; there are always other sources.
It seems unwise for media companies to regard Google as a competitor. For a newspaper, the product is the content, and the printed paper is the distribution channel for that product. Google and other search engines should be viewed as complementary distribution channels, and newspapers should challenge themselves to better leverage these channels. Unfortunately, most newspapers have done a sub-par job of adapting to the obvious changes in the way people consume information.
What can newspapers do to avoid going under?
A drastic shift in mentality regarding the importance of online media consumption must happen. Newspapers, TV organizations and radio stations should create and build out web properties that provide their core product at no cost. Their web sites need to provide the same content they make available to Google News, Bloglines or other popular (free) sources. Newspapers must do a better job of delivering hyper-local news, by adopting and utilizing RSS/XML feeds, Twitter/Facebook, SMS notifications, e-mail, ect., and allowing their audience to better engage with their community-centric business.
A newspaper web site where local stories appear first — with details, pictures and video content — will gain significant web traffic from Google and other search engines. Creative revenue streams can come from advanced advertising opportunities such as geographical and behavioral targeting, co-branded promotional campaigns on niche topic web sites, and integrated business advertising services. Because newspapers have strong relationships with businesses in the community that they serve, they must provide a value-added service to ensure their advertising products provide a measurable return on investment for their advertisers.
More tips on generating revenue
The trouble “old media” are facing, most notably newspapers, is that while the technological landscape around them has changed drastically, their business models have stayed the same. Newspapers and other media have come up with a few new ways of generating revenue as their profits have dwindled, but many of these tactics involve simply moving the model for their print product online. For instance, newspapers are selling online advertising with the same type of pricing model they use for the print product. They’re also charging subscription fees, just as they do for the print product. As discussed earlier, these tactics aren’t working.
Newspapers would do well to examine how financially successful web sites generate revenue through advertising. The internet is not stagnant like a newspaper, and advertising cost structures shouldn’t be either. An advertisement’s value online is dependent on web traffic and whether it directly generates revenue, not size or color. Media need to get creative regarding what and how they charge for advertising. They also need to find ways to increase the value of their web sites to advertisers.
Tips on generating traffic
Reporters and editors for news web sites today have access to online tools that show exactly what internet users want to read. This is a huge advantage when it comes to generating online traffic, thus increasing the value of their web sites. Google Trends and other similar online tracking tools that list the most popular search terms of the day tell online content producers which topics are likely to get the most web traffic.
Newspapers’ primary focus should be providing local news to their communities, whether in the print product or online. However, rather than pulling national stories from their standard subscription service, content producers can use online search analysis tools to tap into what readers want. Organizations that provide the news readers are looking for will get more traffic. More traffic means more advertisers that are willing to pay more money.
Will the printed newspaper be around in the future?
The print product can still have its place, but it needs to take on a more comprehensive approach to local news content by delivering more background and content to stories that had earlier been summarized on the web site. As the newspaper-reading generation gets older, it is important that newspapers identify the trends in their local markets to determine if they still have a readership that is paying for and using the print product.
