Digital circulation for U.S. newspapers rose 63%
U.S. newspaper circulation struggled with only a tiny increase in March 2012, compared to a year earlier, but digital circulation surged by 63 percent, according to the latest figures from the the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Digital circulation now accounts for 14.2 percent of newspapers’ total circulation mix, and note the term refers to tablet or smartphone apps, PDF replicas, metered or restricted-access websites, or e-reader editions. The figure in March 2011 was 8.66 percent.
Average daily circulation increased .68 percent, covering 628 papers.
The Grey Lady was one of the clear winners from this report. The New York Times enjoyed a 73 percent surge in circulation to 1.58 million, with digital readership of 807,026 overtaking print circulation of 779,731. The Times remained the top Sunday newspaper with total average circulation of just over two million, including more than 737,000 digital.
Coming out as one of the top losers, The Washington Post faced a 7.8 percent circulation decrease, a trend closely mirrored by the Detroit Free Press (6.27 percent decrease).
AFP writes, “US newspapers have been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online. But more newspapers are developing models for paid online subscriptions or apps for tablets or phones.”
Study: Newspapers losing $7 in print ad revenue for every $1 earned online
by Andrew Moran (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)
According to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, newspapers in the United States lose $7 in print revenue for every dollar earned in digital revenue. Will a new business model appear?
Many newspapers in the United States and Canada are starting to adapt to the digital age – some may be faster than others. Some publications have attempted the paywall structure, while others publish their news online for free. But are these business models working?
By analyzing financial data of 38 American newspapers and conducting interviews with senior executives from more than a dozen companies that own 330 dailies with circulations between 25,000 and 100,000, Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism has published a new study that finds some very interesting figures for the newspaper industry.
The most important statistic to report on is the fact that newspapers lose $7 in print advertising for every $1 earned in digital revenue. The research found that digital advertising revenues rose on average 19 percent, but suffered from nine percent losses in print advertising.
“Only 40 percent of the papers that provided data say targeted advertising is a major part of their sales effort,” the report stated. “Even though many newspapers are not focusing on it, smart or targeted digital advertising—in which ads are customized based on consumer online behavior—is expected to dominate local digital revenue by 2014.”
Newspaper executives admitted in their interviews with the institute that cultural difficulties are making it harder to transition from print to digital. One challenge that newspapers face is that their employees are too keen on their “old ways.”
Another trouble newspapers face is that even though they may be attempting to shift towards digital revenue, they are having a tough time trying to convince digital salespersons to the newspaper sector.
Upon further analysis, Pew found that the daily deals offerings (e.g. Groupon, DealChicken, etc.) accounts for only five percent of digital revenue. Meanwhile, mobile device advertising only tallies one percent in digital revenue.
The future seems desolate, according to some of the interviewed executives, who maintain a morose outlook. They believe that many newspapers will shrink, shut down and only provide print editions that would be delivered a few times per week.
“The study suggests that the future of newspapers, rather than being determined entirely by sweeping external trends, can be substantially affected by company culture and management, even at papers of quite different sizes,” said Tom Rosenstiel, PEJ director, in a press release.
Canada’s Media
Although the study primarily focused on U.S. publications, Canadian news outlets face the same issues.It was announced that Torstar Corp., owners of the Toronto Star, Workopolis, TheStar.com and others, reported better-than-expected profits in the fourth quarter. Although executives say advertisers are remaining cautious, digital revenues were up 22.8 percent year over year – digital revenue maintains 10.6 percent of its total revenues.
More than one-third of PostMedia’s revenue comes from online operations. It does not, however, publish its financial data.
This article was previously published in Digital Journal [Link]
Murdoch’s News International faces new inquiry
by Lynn Herrmann (Guest Contributor/Digital Journalist)
Rupert Murdoch’s scandal-plagued News International is undergoing a new inquiry over its journalism standards, a probe which began several weeks ago and includes The Times of London newspaper.
Sources familiar with the probe say lawyers for News International are handling a broad inquiry into the company’s journalism practices, including personal interviews with certain journalists and reviewing email and financial records, Reuters reports.
Linklaters, the legal firm heading the investigation, is also looking for information which investigators for the US government might use as evidence of violating America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law pertaining to the bribery of foreign officials.
News Corp has confirmed the inquiry, although the corporation has released few details. “As is widely known, a review of journalistic standards is underway at News International with Linklaters assisting in the process,” a company spokesman said, according to Reuters.
The latest probe began “a number of weeks ago,” the spokesperson added, and is being controlled by News Corp. executive Joel Klein, a former assistant attorney general at the US Justice Department and independent director Viet Dinh, who has also worked at the justice department.
Included as well in the inquiry is Murdoch’s Management and Standards Committee, a unit formed by Murdoch in charge of corporate response to the phone hacking scandal and alleged illegal payments by some of the company’s journalists, a scandal which led to the demise in early July of Britain’s leading tabloid, News of the World.
At least a dozen News of the World executives and journalists have been arrested in the scandal, on allegations they gave illegal bribes to police for tips and intercepted mobile phone messages. To date, none have faced criminal chargesSince then, allegations of wrongdoing and misconduct have spread throughout the UK’s media institution. Publishers for the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, competitors of Murdoch’s empire, have also announced separate probes of journalism procedures, the Globe and Mail reports.
Additional interviews with journalists from London’s The Sunday Times are set to begin in September, and another independent inquiry is set to begin next month as well, led by a British judge.
According to the Telegraph, the Royal Courts of Justice will hold an inquiry over the scandal. Murdoch, his son, James and leading senior politicians, including Prime Minister David Cameron are likely to be questioned over political ties to News International.In another blow to Murdoch’s empire resulting from the phone hacking scandal, Wireless Generation, the software education branch of News Corp, has had a $27 million contract with the state of New York returned over concerns of “vendor responsibility.”
“In light of the significant ongoing investigations and continuing revelations with respect to News Corp., we are returning the contract with Wireless Generation unapproved,” said Thomas DiNapoli, NY State Comptroller, The Telegraph reports.The computer system was being billed as helping track pupil’s test scores, an issue teachers’ unions have protested, as a result of the hacking scandal.
Murdoch bought Wireless Generation last November for $360 million, and just weeks before the purchase, Klein, a former New York schools chief, joined News Corp.
Newspapers surpass broadcasters in total minutes of videos streamed
According to a report from video-hosting platform Brightcove, newspapers have pulled ahead of broadcasters in total minutes of videos streamed for the first time in Q3 this year.
“This is an interesting development, and suggests that newspapers are rapidly adopting and producing video content for what was once a print business,” the report (PDF) says. “This data also bears out the distinct differences in the content between the two verticals: broadcasters have fewer but longer titles, while newspapers are producing many more, but shorter titles on a more regular basis.”
Brightcove says newspapers streamed 313 million minutes compared to 290 million for broadcasters. Newspapers also saw more titles uploaded and spikes in video production coincided with major events such as U.S. mid-term elections and the World Cup. The report says newspaper uploaded 482,000 titles in the Q3, an increase of 51 percent compared to the previous quarter and 100 percent growth compared to the same quarter last year.
Video uploads from the online media category passed broadcast uploads for the first time in Q3, a growth of 188 percent compared to this time last year for online media.
When it comes to time spent watching video, the report says audience engagement stayed relatively the same over Q1, Q2 and Q3. Some verticals, however, saw a decrease in minutes watched. As the study notes: “Completion rates went up in some of the same verticals, suggesting that while the content may be shorter, engagement via completion rates may be higher.”
Newspapers and brand marketers were the only two verticals who did not see a slight drop in average minutes viewed per stream. Broadcasters were much higher than other verticals for average minutes watched per stream, a fact Brightcove attributes to long-form content.
When it comes to watching a video from start to finish, the report says completion rates were relatively constant but spikes were seen from online media properties, broadcasters and brand marketers.
Video discovery and referrals
Facebook overtook Yahoo for video referral traffic in Q3 and the company is now second only to Google. Facebook accounts for 9.6 percent of all referred video to media companies.
Futhermore, visitors who come through Twitter spend more time watching video. Brands saw Twitter users watch 1:47 minutes of video, broadcasters saw 1:57 minutes of video plays from Twitter users, and online media properties saw Twitter users watch 1:40 minutes of video content.
“Google accounted for significantly higher engagement for newspapers at 1:57 minutes, compared to the category average of 1:27 minutes,” the report notes. “This suggests that viewers look to the search engine as a source for the most relevan breaking and timely content.”
The report also says, “Facebook was the most engaging referral source for entertainment categories, including broadcasters (1:57 minutes) and magazines (1:34 minutes). This can be explained that entertainment is a more commonly shared and more engaging content type among friends connecting on the social network.”
Video consumption breakdown by device
In Q3, Brightcove looked at minutes of video watched and how it changed across various devices. The company says game consoles (such as Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation) came out on top with an average of 2:45 minutes watched per view. Online consumption came in at 2:27 minutes per view.
“This is not surprising given that gaming consoles are currently the most common playback device connected to TVs and most closely replicate a comfortable lean-back experience,” the report says. “We anticipate this disparity to increase as more customers make content available to viewers through connected TV apps and gaming consoles.”
More information and statistics are available here (PDF).
Study: iPad news apps will hurt newspaper print subscriptions
By Chris Hogg
According to a new report from the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, more than 50 percent of print newspaper subscribers who use their iPad at least an hour a day for news are likely to cancel their print subscriptions over the next six months.
Furthermore, nearly 31 percent of iPad users surveyed said they don’t subscribe to printed newspapers and 10 percent indicated they already cancelled their print subscriptions and switched to reading digital versions on the iPad.
The report is the first phase of a multi-year research project to understand how Apple iPad users consume news content. The data was collected based on the responses gathered from more than 1,600 iPad users.
Among the findings, respondents who read at least an hour’s worth of news on their iPads every day — more than 90 percent of everyone surveyd — are either very likely or somewhat likely to use a newspaper’s app for reading news. Even among light news readers, the study indicated apps are the preferred method of delivery for news consumers over websites.
“These findings are encouraging for newspaper publishers who plan to begin charging for subscriptions on their iPad app editions early next year, but our survey also found a potential downside: iPad news apps may diminish newspaper print subscriptions in 2011,” Roger Fidler, RJI’s program director for digital publishing and the research project leader, said in a statement.
In total, the survey found three-quarters of respondents consume news for at least 30 minutes on their iPad, with nearly half saying they do so for an hour or more. iPad users are typically more male, well-educated, affluent and between the ages of 35 and 64.
According to the report, the iPad also encourages other news consumption, as the study found the more a person uses an iPad to consume news, the more he or she is likely to use other digital media to consume news.
When it comes to overall experience consuming news on an iPad, respondents were asked to rate their reading experience on the iPad compared to other media on a five-point scale. Respondents said iPad reading experiences were somewhat better than, or about the same, as experiences reading printed newspapers or magazines.
A total of 48.1 percent said the iPad news experience was better than the iPhone’s.
Age also plays a role in iPad experience, as older users tend to say the device is worse than the traditional newspaper-reading experience. Older users, however, said the iPad was better than other electronic devices with smaller screens for news consumption.
The study noted iPad users would be more likely to buy newspaper apps for “a price lower than the price of a print subscription.” Reliability and ease-of-use were also important among iPad users.
So which news organizations have the highest-rated news apps? According to this survey, the most popular responses were: The New York Times, USA Today, The Associated Press, and The Wall Street Journal.
More details on this report can be found here.