Booming on the back of advertising demand over the last decade, especially in the property sectors, the industry took its eye off the ball. When that demand fell its advertising revenues went into free-fall and excecutives realised too late that the "secondary" revenue of the cover price isn't enough to cover the difference, especially as large parts of the audience had now moved online to the land of free news.
In taking their eye off the ball, the newspapers failed to see that the world was changing. They didn't adapt to the digitisation of the news, because they weren't forced to. They are now facing a world that is digital and they need to change radically or accept that they are old news.
The digital world still offers rewards for those that get it right. The FT and Wall Street Journal, for example, are in a strong position, as users are prepared to pay for their premium content. And it's not just the broad-sheets, The Sun has just announced a 25% increase in its online usage.
Content will always play a key role online. And news will always be important content. The challenge now is for newspapers to understand what it is that their specific audience want, to define their premium content. Once they know what that content is, they need to work out how and where their audience want to read it.
Sounds like basic marketing to me!
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