Growing economic pressures are having a far reaching impact on the newspaper industry. Competition among TV, (satellite) radio, magazines, online news, and citizen journalists have placed seasoned news journalists into the spotlight of this juicy storyline. The complete demise of the newspaper industry has yet to unfold but its story will be written with red ink. The downward trend is unmistakable, with readership of print-only newspapers falling across all age cohorts. The PEW News Media Consumption Survey broke this headline in August 2008 discovering a significant shift in balance between online and print readership.
In 2008, online readers comprised more than a third of all newspaper readers; two years earlier, fewer than a quarter of newspaper readers viewed them on the Web. This is being driven by a substantial shift in how younger generations read newspapers.
In 2006, 22% of Gen Y said they read a printed newspaper compared to 9% reading an online newspaper. Within a span of two years, the consumption distribution was almost equal with 16% reading a printed newspaper and 14% reading an online newspaper.
A similar trend emerged among Gen X readers with only 21% reading printed newspapers in 2008 compared to 30% in 2006 while the percentage of readers going online to get their news jumped from 13% in 2006 to 18% in 2008.
Even among Boomers and older generations there has been a shift toward online news compared to print. The proportion of those that said they read only a printed newspaper yesterday also slipped while those that read only online news rose suggesting that print has lost its relevancy.
We’ll likely see this trend continue as accessibility to broadband internet and mobile devices increases and readers become more tech savvy. More readers want news updates quicker, ability to customize what stories they want to track, and also sound-off and engage with others in lively discussions online, all with just a few quick keystrokes.
Could online news be the unsung hero in this story or has the writing on the wall already been written on the newspaper industry? Stay tuned!
