This week saw the closure of one of London's big newspapers, freesheet TheLondonPaper. Earlier this month a lot of talk circulated about the contemplated closure of The Observer. In the wake of all this, the industry is looking at what the future holds for print media, and it was the topic of conversation over lunch today with an old friend and client and who was thinking what might happen next - as am I.
The thing we settled on was media you like to keep. Keep media that fills your bookshelves, or that you like to keep around for the week rather than a day. Consumers that graze online channels who are presented with everything they might want for free will only invest when there's value. A niche will give them that, but quality will too.
This weekend I'll spend about a fiver on print media, keep it a while, tear some bits out, and so on. For the week, well, apart from what I get online, I hope freesheets don't die out altogether as they're a staple for me in the week too. But maybe there just isn't room for them when the content they offer is not going to give them a sound business in the end.
Unfortunately the numbers just don’t add up for too many free newspapers…with dwindling advertising revenues in a very competitive market, I’m sure we will see a few more go by the wayside as the fat is trimmed from the industry.
More generally, the future of newspapers (both paid for and free) depend on the industry coming up with a better business model. Newspapers needs to raise funds and come up with a method that suits the consumer (a bit like music downloads).
Although, people have become accustomed to getting their news for free online, I’m sure once the Times and Sun start charging for content, others will follow.
We have to be prepared to pay for a quality product.
Posted by: Ben Cotton | September 15, 2009 at 04:02 PM