It’s evident that the current economic downturn as well as the changing media landscape has dramatically affected daily newspapers – this can be seen in the closure of many newspapers across the country as well as many cost-cutting measures such as layoffs.
A report from the Inland Press Association states that print dailies have “seen an erosion of revenue and profits for at least five years even before the current recession.”
After examining financial data from 120 U.S. newspapers, the report concludes profits remain strong at many newspapers, especially smaller dailies. Moreover, Tim Mather, financial studies manager with Inland, reports that while the downturn is affecting nearly all revenue sources at daily newspapers the trend analysis average shows newspaper operating profits “still ranged from more than 11 percent to 15 percent of gross revenue in all circulation groups except 25,001-50,000.”
While smaller dailies may continue to flourish for the time being, the move towards digital will inevitably impact all print publications in the near future. We’ve already seen numerous daily newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal leverage micro-payment systems to counteract the negative impacts of the economy on advertising revenues.
As print publications and daily newspapers take a more niche focus to cater to specific audiences and as competition for article placement continues to increase, it is important to remember to craft pitches that have a strong local angle and have a timely hook.
It will be interesting to see if the newspaper industry will rebound from the current economic crisis and maintain pre-recession revenue levels or if print publications as we know will cease to exist. Let us know what you think about the future of the industry. We would love to hear your thoughts.