Print Publishing, 1605 – 2020, R.i.p. Is There Life After Death?

By Author: getthe way
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Print Publishing, 1605 – 2020, R.I.P. Is there life after death?

Admittedly this is a rather contentious title, but based on our research and the growth we are seeing in all things digital, it is not out of the question to surmise that print publishing very likely will have ceased by 2020.

Admittedly this is a rather contentious title, but based on our research and the growth we are seeing in all things digital, it is not out of the question to surmise that print publishing very likely will have ceased by 2020. So that gives newspaper publishers a little less than eight years to make serious preparations for the future...

To help understand how serious this threat is to the publishing industry it is important to recognise one key factor in this situation: print sales for all major newspapers are dropping dramatically. It is not that people no longer read newspapers, rather that they are choosing to read them online with any number of digital devices. Conversely when you consider that the news moving onto a digital format opens it up to a world of new competition, which it previously avoided, such as social ...
... media sites, instant messaging, video-on-demand, video sharing sites, online gaming, apps, apps you start to understand how fractured and distracted the modern digital news audience really is.

The good news in all of this is that people are turning to their digital newspaper. And in fact there is tremendous growth in the readership of digital publications to the point where major newspapers such as the New York Times and the Times in the UK are both seeing the acceptance of their digital paywall subscription systems becoming more appealing than actually purchasing a physical newspaper at a local newsstand, not to mention the fact that digital issues are cheaper to produceas well.

With all this good news then - why is there still a threat to the publishing industry? Is it not simply a matter of switching delivery mechanisms? If only it were that simple. Traditional publishing relies on the sales of ad space to help create a buffer for the bottom line and drive revenue figures. Quite often print publications are run at a loss with only the advertising ensuring the presses keep rolling. However, when looking at the online click-through rates for banner ads and other online advertisements - the numbers are simply not encouraging. Modern savvy audiences are skipping the ads, ignoring the ads, and unfortunately for the most part can’t even recall the ads that flashed before their eyes.

So what to do? Leading publishing companies are learning quickly that in order to survive and thrive in the choppy seas of the digital ocean, one must be reactive, proactive and be thinking like the consumer. What will make the consumer click the subscribe now button? What will get the consumer to pay attention to the advertisement on the top of the page? What does the consumer want to know right now?