The Crises of Print Media - Essay Example

Introduction Technology has changed the way the society operates and the way different tasks and activities are carried out. With the emergence of technology and fast growth of internet technology, the world of publishing was introduced to different technological equipment and advanced publishing models. With the fast pace growth in technology and world-wide acceptance of technology, traditional models of printing seem to be obsolete. Users now prefer using more fragmented devices, cellular devices and other electronic mediums. (Barthelemy, Barthel and Tim) The traditional model of printing required journalists and writers to cover a story, write about it before deadline so it could be sent for copy editing and then for printing to the printing press. However, the wide spread of technology and the advanced models now save the time and costs, and are more convenient for readers to use. The Western economies have faced dramatic decline in the revenues earned by Print media. However, does this mean that the emergence of electronic media has brought the death of print media? Can the print media be called a dead business model now? The Twin Crisis The print media can be said to be going through twin crisis of firstly losing out the total circulation but also in the form of loss of revenues from advertising. With free online content available for the users, print media proves to be an expensive and less interactive medium. The emergence of digital and electronic media has proved to be a severe competition for the survival of print media business model. (Neiva and Elizabeth) The three underlying causes for the emergence of electronic media and the twin crisis in print media are: 1. The changing attitudes and behaviour of consumers 2. Free content available online 3. Advertising budgets being cut down for print media The introduction to the internet and wide acceptance of internet caused a rapid change in the consumer behaviour. With internet, users were able to customize the news, interact with the writers, and to check updates two to three times. Moreover, with internet, users were able to read online or download other print books and magazine. Internet offers the content for free and the sources for the content are numerous. All one has to do is go online and search for the needed item. The use of internet for getting the information, news, books and content became popular in USA during the financial crisis of 2007-8 where users tried to save costs and this eventually led to a 30% decline in the circulation of print newspaper. With the changing consumer behaviour and acceptance of online content, the advertisers shifted their budgets from print to the online mediums. The decline in the circulation of the newspaper and decline in the revenues by overall print media, advertisers experienced a rise in revenue of 10% by spending online. (Levy) The combined effects of these three factors left the print media with the twin crisis. The print media world is now left with declining circulation and revenues whilst trying to fight the competition against the electronic media. Digitization – The Last Resort The digitization of content may have affected the print media but it can be taken as a potential source of revenues. Several print companies have considered investment in digital world as strategically important. Digital media is faster in speed, more effective and cost effective. Users now demand a more interactive form of communication, and time and cost friendly medium of communication. Print media fails to offer either. With electronic media and internet, users can get the content for free and faster than print media. The reach and the effect of electronic media is almost double as efficient as that of print media. The digital media has three different channels – namely TV, Internet and Radio. Any print media company can utilize any of these three channels and earn revenues. There are three sources to earn through digitization of content – subscriptions, commissions and advertising revenues. (Barthelemy, Barthel and Tim) Subscriptions allow the consumer to read or use the content for a certain period of time – 15 days, a month, 4 months, one year, etc. The users will have to pay for the content beforehand and they can then get the access to content on daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis or for that particular content only. Commissions are paid to the websites or online portals acting as the intermediary between the customer and supplier. There are several online newspaper companies that operate under pay per performance online models. These websites earn a percentage of the revenues earned by the supplier who used the website as a platform to sell the goods or services. Advertising budgets have been dramatically increasing for online media. Idate – a global consultant for Internet Advertising – estimated the growth of online advertising during 2010 – 2012 to be at a rate of 15.5 %. Online advertising is no different than print advertising. (Manduchi and Picard). Websites save and offer spaces on their web pages to the advertisers where they can run their ads and campaigns. The underlying reason for the increasing popularity of internet advertising is the power to customize, interact with customers and effectively reach the customers. With Google Analytic tools, advertisers can tailor made the ads for the targeted customers living in the targeted regions. Moreover, it is easier to calculate the return on investment (ROI) and effective reach in online advertising thereby proving to be an effective source of revenues. (The Economist) Newsweek – America’s leading print media company and ranked among world’s top magazine – shifted itself completely in a digital magazine by the end of 2012. The underlying reason being the declining revenues and increasing potential of electronic media to make revenues. Conclusion With the shift of several print media giants – like Newsweek, Springer, Financial Times Deutschland, Actuel – to alternative sources of revenues or electronic media simply indicate that it is not the death of print media but it is simple adaptation to the rapidly changing consumer behaviour and a shift to the electronic media to survive in the competitive world. (Rhanem) Print media cannot compete with TV, Internet or Radio on the basis of speed. Electronic media is faster than all of the print media channels. The most important change in consumer behaviour is the need to save time. Therefore, in order to survive and keep earning revenues, the digitization is necessary and is to be taken as a strategy to survive. With the few giants filing the bankruptcy – like Actuel, Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) – the print media players need to realize the changing trends and like Newsweek and other players have to adapt to the survival strategy. Digitization is the only way out for the print media which can help them running in the business with guaranteed profits. (Rhanem) The print media cannot die or phase out completely for the next decade at least. But it is likely to witness further declines in the circulation and revenues in print media. Print media is currently in a phase of declining revenues, leaving few print companies to bankruptcy, few to shift the operations to electronic or some other alternative source of income while leading to job loss for several. The emergence of electronic media can be said to be a competitive platform for print media or as an alternative source of revenues. Print media is not in its death phase but those players, who are not being able to cover up the costs or are facing declining revenues, need to look for the alternative and other potential sources. Works Cited Barthelemy, Samantha, et al. The Future of Print Media. Capstone Report. Columbia: World News Media Research Group, 2011. Levy, David A.L and Kleis Nielsen. “The Changing Business of Journalism and Its Implications for Democracy.” Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2010). Manduchi and R. Picard. “Revenues, and Profits in a Newspaper Market with Fixed Advertising Costs.” Journal of Media Economics (2009). Neiva and M. Elizabeth. “The Consolidation of the American Newspaper Industry.” The Business History Review (1996). Rhanem, Karima. “World Press Crisis: Goodbye paper, hello digital!” Morocco World News, 15 January 2013. The Economist. “The Crucible of Print.” 6 January 2011. The Economist. 18 March 2013. Read More