Daily newspaper readership has gone from about 65 million 25 years ago to 65 million today...but the population has grown from 225 million to over 300 million. Weekly papers are growing, more ads are now online.....so where does this leave daily papers?
A recent interview with Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times says:At present, the print edition of The Times supplies most of our revenue and profit. I don't expect that to change in a hurry. We have a variety of levers we can adjust to keep the print newspaper healthy. We can add features that attract new advertising. We can reorganize for greater efficiency. (One major example: consolidating New York area printing into a single, modernized plant.) We can raise prices. We can trim costs. And so on. But the Web audience is growing at a great clip, while print circulation is not. And online revenues are growing faster, too, albeit from a smaller base. If the trend continues, there's little doubt that -- "eventually" -- online becomes the main business. I think newspapers on paper will be around for a good while yet. They may in time become niche products -- like vinyl LPs -- for a particular loyal audience.
Love the story. Great information that portends the future.
Posted by: Gert | June 21, 2008 at 02:59 PM