The Future of Newspapers

I couldn’t help but laugh to myself while reading the articles.  Having worked as an Advertising Account Executive for both the Seattle Weekly and Apartment Finder Magazine, and now as a Marketing Consultant for Living Social, I have experienced this issue from both sides of the fence.  And by issue I mean the direct impact advertising or more specifically the lack thereof, has had on all media.

It’s true, newspapers are shrinking and readership is down.  I battled this beast while trying to sign merchants up for advertising campaigns that were ridiculously expensive and could only promise XXX amount of “eyes,” with no way to track ROI. Merchants complained that nobody was reading print any longer or that our audience (Seattle Weekly) wasn’t the audience that would purchase their goods and services.  With Seattle Apartment Magazine, acquiring a new merchant was increasingly difficult as we would not separate our print and online; we sold it as one product.

Then it became “online only,” as if the internet was here to save the world and suddenly every business who advertised online would have a line out the door, eager to purchase their goods and services. Well, the online only campaign didn’t quite deliver the promises made either.  Sure, merchants could see the amount of “clicks” on their ads, but just how many of those turned into real life paying customers? We couldn’t say.

Without advertising dollars newspapers have to cut back.  With cut backs comes less content and that arguably means less readers.  I know that when New Times bought the Seattle Weekly, more than half the staff complained that New Times, with its streamlined approach,  would come in and cut out most of the opinion and editorial columns. That in turn meant job losses and the loss of many loyal readers.  And it happened.

So what is the solution? I don’t know. What is the question? I’m not sure of that either!

I personally consume all types of gaymedia – newsprint, magazines, online and television.

I recently read in Time magazine that magazine readership is going up and that people spend more time reading magazines than they do an online source. This was mentioned in “Newspaper economics – online and offline,” (although referring to newspapers).  I agree.  I definitely spend more time reading my magazines than I do anything online.  I tend to look at the advertising in print more than once, and pay more attention to the articles.  But it seems I’m the minority as many of the people I know get all of their news online.  And many people I know don’t care much about the news at all, at least not on a daily basis.

I would hate to see print media become obsolete.  There’s nothing that can replace it.  Being able to pick something up and hold it, and take it with you, even a book (I do not think the “nook” or anything similar is “cool”) just feels good.  This isn’t to say I don’t value news content online, because I do.  It’s just that I find myself distracted while reading online and partaking in “infosnacking.”  We are too easily distracted with so many pretty colors and bold headlines competing for our attention.

I hope newspapers find a way to survive.  And, better yet, become a truly objective source of reporting without the bureaucracy.  Perhaps it’s time for a new generation of newspaper?