Writing on the wall

07-01-2009

by Ralph Averbuch

It looks like the writing is finally on the wall for printed news. Of course, digital remains in rude health and is probably the key reason that traditional newspapers are suffering so badly. Last month Pew released a study which claims to show that online consumption of news has finally usurped its print predecessor; well in the USA at least. The Pew Research Center in Washington says the number of consumers using the web as a main news source jumped from 24pc to 40pc in just a year. This overtakes some 35pc who say they rely on newspapers. Now what might that mean for the rest of us? Well chances are that the US experience is simply an early warning of what's to come this side of the pond. But Ireland has a huge headache, not least because of the much more significant bias to a young population. It's this very demographic which is less likely to be interested in the printed word and more likely to be interested in digital consumption of news. So, not only will local papers need to deal with a wider move away from paper-based news, they'll also need to find ways to establish new relationships with an audience which may never pay, nor even read an old-style paper ever again. And, as we've seen, very few newspaper brands have found a successful way of charging for content online...