On my first day back at work after my lengthy summer vacation (yes, for the first time ever I took over a month of rest), it took only about 30 minutes before we embarked on a discussion of what to do when there is no longer a print edition.
Yep! This is the topic de jour at newsrooms everywhere, even if that day is quite distant for many, not so far away for some, and almost immediate for a few.
I call it: Get your Plan B in action, which means developing a strategy to fortify digital editions before saying goodbye to print—at least in its Monday thru Friday existing set up. I am a firm believer that print will remain as a weekend edition option, the ultimate lean back experience.
At The Independent
One organization in the UK for which the Plan B seems to be working well is The Independent, which closed its print edition last March.
The Independent’s team is now focused on 100% digital as it continues to make a push to further its digital ambitions, including an expansion in to the North American market.
While print readership accounted for only 1% of the general audience, the digital-only strategy is paying off and traffic numbers continue to rise, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, who reported a daily average of 4,382,722 unique browsers.
The Independent DID have a Plan B long before the closure of its print edition: it already had about 50 journalists focusing primarily on the digital side of the business.
This is good advice for publishers everywhere. Don’t wait till you have to fortify digital while closing print editions. Start the Plan B action now.
As The Independent case shows, it is a way to guarantee that a digital future will come without unexpected challenges.