Newspaper companies are trying hard to create new growth, but many have trouble grasping that this will be virtually impossible to achieve with news alone. The fact is, to continue providing the kind of newsgathering that communities need, they'll have to expand far beyond news to support it.
If you have doubts about this fundamental fact, check out this piece by Frederic Filloux, an editor for the Norwegian group Schibsted, and Jean Louis Gassee, a partner for Allegis Capital in Palo Alto, CA. It lays out the truth in black and white, showing why doing news online won't be enough to sustain our newsgathering operations.
it's a sobering read. But that's mainly because the authors see clearly what won't work, but they don't seem to see the vast areas of opportunity for new audiences and new revenues beyond news.
Their figures for Web audiences and ad revenues are based on current practices at leading Web sites -- which are centered almost exclusively on news, and which make money almost exclusively from banner ads and classified upsells. However, Newspaper Next points out that there are huge frontiers of opportunity for newspaper companies beyond traditional news and traditional advertising.
When you look at the world through the eyes of typical consumers, you see that they want and need lots of local information that isn't news, and that we can dramatically expand our audiences by meeting those needs. And when you look at the world through the eyes of businesses, you realize that they have lots of needs that print ads, banner ads and classified ads don't meet. New digital solutions like search, email, video, lead generation and directories do -- and these represent entirely new revenue streams for most newspapers. That's why online revenues in these categories are exploding right now.
Still, I recommend the Filloux/Gassee piece as an excellent read -- if only to remind us that we have no choice but to move into these new frontiers if we hope to save our core newsgathering activities and restore growth for our companies.
And then, of course, I recommend reading the Newspaper Next reports to see the vast realms of opportunity beyond news and traditional advertising and how to tap them.
