This is an important year for newspapers. First, take a look at these trend lines, remember that the Internet includes online versions of newspapers.
While the Internet numbers jump around quite a bit, they do show an upward trend, the Newspaper category is in an undeniable steady decline.
Where people get their news is important to us because printed newspapers are still used by our retailers for advertising. If consumers go elsewhere for their news, so too our ads must go elsewhere. None of these numbers tell me local retailers should quit advertising in newspapers but it does say they should also be advertising on the Internet.
Because of trends like these, The New York Times has promised that this year they will put up a pay wall for their online content. They don’t have enough subscription income to keep reporters on the street and the presses running, while they give away the online content. The online display ad income is considerable but not enough to compensate for the declining subscription costs.
So, in 2011 newspapers will try and charge consumers to read the news online. If this fails, then something has to give, like the presses.