TAKEAWAY: Interest in news peaks, says a new study from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism; however, newspaper companies producing most news content are not seeing the profits. It is time for newspaper companies to form alliances with technology companies such as Microsoft, Google, AOL and Yahoo.
Another week and another study about how people read, the impact of the tablets and, of course, the economics of it all.
This time, it is a report from the The State of the News Media 2012 report, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism reports that there is much hope among publishers for the advertising market in tablets, which may operate differently from smartphones in this area.
However, and this is a topic I discussed with a gathering of advertising and media people at a Microsoft Austria gathering last week in Vienna: tablet ads must be richer in content, allow for more interactivity and engage the reader. Tablet ads that are flat, turn the page or look at the image type only won’t do. The revenue is only going to come when the creativity of the ads makes advertisers want to see their products in that tablet.
Tablets do offer a good and powerful sign of hope for revenue via advertising, but also through paid content.
The New York Times has already shown that paywalls can pay. Now Gannett has announced the most ambitious efforts to date. It will charge subscriptions for all of 80 of its local news sites; only flagship, soon to be 30 years old, USA Todaywill be exempt, and we wonder for how long that will be.
That brings us to mobile phone ads, which also hold much promise.
We know that the majority of people consulting their mobile phones for information are mostly interested in the weather, local news and restaurant information. It is in those areas that publishers need to emphasize their ad potential for that platform.
By the way, my Poynter colleague, Rick Edmonds, provides an excellent overview and interpretation of these topics and the Pew Study here:
– USA: 6 trends for newspapers in 2012, from a Sunday boom to an executive bust
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/166575/6-trends-for-newspapers-in-2012/
Jill Abramson, editor of The New York Times, speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive festival, said:
“The Times — I don’t mean to sound arrogant or self-satisfied in any way — our news report is like none anywhere in the world. What I’m optimistic about is our quality journalism is gonna live on forever, regardless of platform.”
As reported in the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/12/jill-abramson-sxsw-future-new-york-times_n_1339869.html?ref=topbar
– Insights for journalists from South by Southwest Interactive festival
http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/en/node/9322
– Digital ad spending to overtake print
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2f671e0c-6e8e-11e1-b98d-00144feab49a.html#axzz1pGm93rtk
– Newspapers And Video: Slow And Steady Or Flood The Zone?
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-newspapers-and-video-slow-and-steady-or-flood-the-zone/
– USA: State of the News Media 2012 shows audience growth for all platforms but newspapers
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/166874/state-of-the-news-media-2012-shows-audience-growth-for-all-platforms-but-newspapers/
– USA: What Facebook and Twitter Mean for News
http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/mobile-devices-and-news-consumption-some-good-signs-for-journalism/what-facebook-and-twitter-mean-for-news/?src=prc-section