A poll conducted in May by Harris Interactive for INNOVATION International Media Consulting indicates that online news and information will supplant television network news as the leading news source over the next five years. But news from television in general (including from cable networks) should continue to be dominant. It also confirmed continued erosion of the role of newspapers, although by my interpretation of the findings newspapers may be in a position to benefit from the ascendency of online news if they can navigate some tricky shoals.
By the numbers
The poll, covering the U.S., Australia, UK, Spain, Germany, France and Italy, asked about media habits today, expectations about media sources in five years (always an “iffy” kind of question) and about attitudes towards newspapers, such as credibility, importance and image. You can see all the results here. I have focused today on just several pieces of data that I think most useful for publishers.
In the U.S., 39% of adults claimed to get most of their news from television, compared to 24% from newspapers and 18% online. By 2012, 37% respondents projected they still would be relying on television, newspapers down to 19% and online news sources up to 26%.
But the poll does not differentiate between online news that is provided by today’s newspaper publishers and that coming from a non-newspaper Web site. Much to its credit, the INNOVATION poll does follow up with this question:
This finding raises some strategic uncertainty for newspaper publishers and editors. At this point, many consumers still consider the “newspaper” the physical product. So, for example, at the top of its main Web page it may say “The Philadelphia Inquirer” in the familiar Old English script, but it’s not the "newspaper” for these readers. It’s just online news. So should newspapers be focusing on transferring the newspaper’s brand to the online arena?
I don’t know, based on responses to another question that asks simply,
Responses to another question also should raise a red flag. Given a list of reasons why the respondents might not read newspapers, 55% agreed that they are “Biased or too narrow of a viewpoint” in their reporting. And, consistent with the previous credibility score, 38% said they are “Not viewed as a credible or trustworthy source of news and information”
Implications for strategy
If the credibility of newspapers in the U.S. is so tepid and objectivity so questioned, then might not publishers be better off distancing their online product from their print products? If online news is viewed as a new or different product, should publishers try to present themselves to the pubic with a new brand? Something like what General Motors did with Saturn: Create its own identify, a fresh platform, a different business model. To some degree that has worked for GM and Saturn.
Another approach, also borrowing from the auto industry, is to create a new, perhaps high end product, as Toyota did successfully with Lexus. Instead of creating a Toyota model with more bells and whistles, it created a separately dealer network for a separate brand (sharing some components under the hood only). Might publishers want to keep their current print and online brands for the mass audience but establish new brands with distinctly new content and a different business model for the high (or low) end?
I’m not necessarily advocating for either one. But looking at this empirical data suggests that there there is a need for fresh thinking, for opportunities to be tested—and perhaps some swamps to be avoided.
[Full disclosure: I have occassionally been a consultant for INNOVATION.]
By the numbers
The poll, covering the U.S., Australia, UK, Spain, Germany, France and Italy, asked about media habits today, expectations about media sources in five years (always an “iffy” kind of question) and about attitudes towards newspapers, such as credibility, importance and image. You can see all the results here. I have focused today on just several pieces of data that I think most useful for publishers.
In the U.S., 39% of adults claimed to get most of their news from television, compared to 24% from newspapers and 18% online. By 2012, 37% respondents projected they still would be relying on television, newspapers down to 19% and online news sources up to 26%.
But the poll does not differentiate between online news that is provided by today’s newspaper publishers and that coming from a non-newspaper Web site. Much to its credit, the INNOVATION poll does follow up with this question:
“When most people think about ‘reading a newspaper’ today, do you think that they include the newspaper’s online news and information websites as part of the definition of reading the newspaper?”Nearly half—49%-- said that they did not consider a newspaper’s online site as within the definition of “the newspaper.” Another 21%-- a large proportion—were unsure.
This finding raises some strategic uncertainty for newspaper publishers and editors. At this point, many consumers still consider the “newspaper” the physical product. So, for example, at the top of its main Web page it may say “The Philadelphia Inquirer” in the familiar Old English script, but it’s not the "newspaper” for these readers. It’s just online news. So should newspapers be focusing on transferring the newspaper’s brand to the online arena?
I don’t know, based on responses to another question that asks simply,
“Do you personally consider online news from a newspaper site to be as credible as the news printed in the newspaper?”Two thirds of the adults in the U.S. agreed that credibility was equal to the printed paper, only 14% did not (the rest were undecided). However, this finding is undercut by what the same poll found in measuring the credibility adults place on the newspaper in the first place: On a scale of 0 (no credibility) to 100, the median was 57, a rather so-so vote of confidence. (It bested the publishers in the U.K., where newspapers only had a 50 score, but lagged Germany, where they garnered a median of 67).
Responses to another question also should raise a red flag. Given a list of reasons why the respondents might not read newspapers, 55% agreed that they are “Biased or too narrow of a viewpoint” in their reporting. And, consistent with the previous credibility score, 38% said they are “Not viewed as a credible or trustworthy source of news and information”
Implications for strategy
If the credibility of newspapers in the U.S. is so tepid and objectivity so questioned, then might not publishers be better off distancing their online product from their print products? If online news is viewed as a new or different product, should publishers try to present themselves to the pubic with a new brand? Something like what General Motors did with Saturn: Create its own identify, a fresh platform, a different business model. To some degree that has worked for GM and Saturn.
Another approach, also borrowing from the auto industry, is to create a new, perhaps high end product, as Toyota did successfully with Lexus. Instead of creating a Toyota model with more bells and whistles, it created a separately dealer network for a separate brand (sharing some components under the hood only). Might publishers want to keep their current print and online brands for the mass audience but establish new brands with distinctly new content and a different business model for the high (or low) end?
I’m not necessarily advocating for either one. But looking at this empirical data suggests that there there is a need for fresh thinking, for opportunities to be tested—and perhaps some swamps to be avoided.
[Full disclosure: I have occassionally been a consultant for INNOVATION.]
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