Print media is not dead. Printed material will always be with us, primarily for the reasons of permanence and portability. Newspaper publishers specifically need to understand what business they’re in now that the timeliness factor is owned by the Internet. Better still, they can exploit the power of the computer to deliver content and advertising in a powerful, profitable manner.
Newspapers are dying right and left. Circulation is down. Staff is being cut. But that’s not true everywhere. The problem newspapers face is one of adaptation. The service they provide is still needed and a newspaper can flourish by providing it.
Here are my thoughts:
1. There is strength in paper. It exists without electricity or an Internet connection. As such, it’s more convenient than reading a web page. Do not abandon the printed page. Instead, enhance it.
2. Better writing equals better reading. The Internet is full of mediocre writing. People crave well-written material. Do not give it away on the web.
3. Provide a web page. People expect it to be free, so give them something free. But don’t give away the farm. Instead, tease. If people want the details, they can subscribe. But do not cheat the subscribers: give them more information than is found (or cut from) the printed version. Do the web page right, make it brilliant, but make it something only the subscribers can see.
4. Leverage your strength in advertising. Require web subscribers to provide detailed marketing information. Use that information. Don’t junk up a subscriber’s web experience with random, cluttered advertising. Instead, sell targeted ads. Subscribers will prefer that, and your sales force will love it. Plus you cut out the expensive on-line advertising middlemen like Google, and you can justify higher ad rates for targeted ads.
5. Use the power of your subscriber demographics further to customize content. Give people the news they want to read. Play down what they don’t.
Ten years ago, one of my editors did a completely on-line version of a magazine. It was phenomenally successful. It sold extremely targeted advertising, which not only moved products, it was appreciated by the subscribers. My editor deftly fused technology with the content and advertising power of traditional print media to achieve success. You can, too.
TV may go next, because of all the online video sites, such as YouTube, SurfTheChannel, Toudu, ect.
And it’s free to get these shows! A lot of them want you to get their cable or sattelite service, so you can get what you want. But since the web is (mostly) free, the cable, sattelite and regular TV brodcasters may (or are now) lose people very soon.
Comment by linuxlove — August 27, 2008 @ 7:54 am
I agree. The Web gives us the promise that the VCR made decades ago: to be able to watch your show when you want to. If I were to play the ponies on this one, I’d bet on Apple TV. But it’s not quite there yet.
Comment by admin — August 27, 2008 @ 8:16 am
I’d have to add a downside to paper. This morning it’s raining and the newspaper human failed to put my paper into a plastic bag. It was soaked through-and-through. Unreadable.
Comment by admin — August 27, 2008 @ 8:17 am
Mark Cuban disagrees that TV will go. I think that he’s right in that HD tv is a better experience (and always will be better) than streamed video online, even good quality online video, and especially with a TiVo to allow pausing and on-demand playback.
It’s like comparing an XBOX 360 to a PC for games. Yes, the PC can play games like the XBOX–but the XBOX is wildly more popular for gaming. And that’s because it is a specialized piece of equipment that does one thing very well, like an HD tv.
Comment by jamh51 — August 27, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
Soon, I think, the price of HDTV’s will drop so much and the HD compu-parts, that some HDTV fans and them that just like watching things on the “big screen”, that they can afford to buy such things. Some companies may make a little set-top box for your PC, where you can get HDTV on your PC. Yes, I think TV will go next. The cable and sattelite companies may put there shows on the web. But as our Admin has said: “Provide a web page. People expect it to be free, so give them something free. But don’t give away the farm. Instead, tease. If people want the details, they can subscribe. But do not cheat the subscribers: give them more information than is found (or cut from) the printed version. Do the web page right, make it brilliant, but make it something only the subscribers can see.” Give little preveiws of the shows people want to see, and they might subscribe.
Comment by linuxlove — August 28, 2008 @ 8:14 am
RE: the not giving away teh farm, examples of people who do this are APC Magazine (which I’m not complaining about, I don’t even buy the magazines, I just borrow them), who basically giv eyou the entire article, thereby ensuring that you’ll not buy the magazine. News.com.au is also guilty of this, too. I agree with you, Dan: if they want to keep us, they need to tease us, not give us the whole enchilada.
Comment by Douglas — August 29, 2008 @ 1:13 am