As a company that is very interested in local marketing automation, we keep an eye out for information that indicates where things are heading. We especially watch newspapers because traditionally local retailers have relied on the printed newspaper as their main tool for local advertising.
As the the internet has grown, we’ve been watching newspapers struggle to offset the loss of print advertising revenue with digital revenue from their online editions. In spite of all the negative revenue numbers for newspapers, we’ve always thought that newspapers would survive because they are uniquely adept at providing local news. Historically they have more people on the street every day than all the local radio and television stations combined.
Here’s a statistic that makes us now wonder even more about their future.
Could it be that newspapers in their desperate effort to keep the print editions afloat have cut their ability to gather local news?
The above chart is from a Reflections of a Newsosaur blog post.
Hopefully, this chart is more a reflection of consolidation in the industry and efficiencies in gathering local news because of advancements in technology than a desperate effort to save the print editions.
Not being the absolute best source for local news would be very bad news for a newspaper.