Thursday, November 30, 2006
Time is the larger battleground, not just advertising revenue
The 2007 Schott’s Almanac has a particularly scary graphic on the impact of the Internet on traditional media based on data from the recent Ofcom media use survey.
It found both the 15-24 age group and 45-64s spent less time reading national newspapers, local papers and magazines since using the Internet for the first time.While you’d expect the younger group to consume traditional media less, it’s the findings for the 45-64s which shock me most: reading nationals 7-8% less, magazines 5% less and local papers 2% less. These alone could explain the worsening of the structural decline in newspaper circulations in recent years as this and the older demographic are the groups paper media are increasingly relying on.
They, and the results of other surveys, also make the case for really cranking up the transition of traditional media brands from mainly print-based distribution to online as that’s where most groups of readers are going with increasing speed.
What they also highlight is one of the main threats to print media – the other things people are finding to do with their time. Which activities, not just media, are winning the battle for the time of potential readers is the broader battle, especially as UK adults increasingly live a cash-rich, time-poor life which makes what leisure time they have left more precious and more carefully allocated.
So media brands have to make a better case for that time, especially if getting their print product requires a special trip, or diversion, to the newsagent when all manner of alternative brands are available online or by mobile, which may fit into the lifestyle of potential readers better, especially as more of them are getting broadband and are, as a result, online more anyway.
It found both the 15-24 age group and 45-64s spent less time reading national newspapers, local papers and magazines since using the Internet for the first time.While you’d expect the younger group to consume traditional media less, it’s the findings for the 45-64s which shock me most: reading nationals 7-8% less, magazines 5% less and local papers 2% less. These alone could explain the worsening of the structural decline in newspaper circulations in recent years as this and the older demographic are the groups paper media are increasingly relying on.
They, and the results of other surveys, also make the case for really cranking up the transition of traditional media brands from mainly print-based distribution to online as that’s where most groups of readers are going with increasing speed.
What they also highlight is one of the main threats to print media – the other things people are finding to do with their time. Which activities, not just media, are winning the battle for the time of potential readers is the broader battle, especially as UK adults increasingly live a cash-rich, time-poor life which makes what leisure time they have left more precious and more carefully allocated.
So media brands have to make a better case for that time, especially if getting their print product requires a special trip, or diversion, to the newsagent when all manner of alternative brands are available online or by mobile, which may fit into the lifestyle of potential readers better, especially as more of them are getting broadband and are, as a result, online more anyway.
