Legal Research

Newspapers Prospects

By admin

From the Committed Sardine:

Update on Newspapers

“Newspapers now have lost half of core sales

The news industry forms a major source for the answers that reference librarians give. Here?s the state of the industry this year:

- ?The industry exited the quarter with less than half the revenue base it had in the same period in 2005.?
- ?Print ad sales for the industry skidded 11.4% in the first three months of the year to $5.2 billion ? – ? compares with $10.3 billion in the same period in 2005, reflecting a decline since then of 55.3%.?
- This is ?not as severe as the 29.7% dive in the same quarter a year ago, it nonetheless ranks as the third worst Q1-setback setback on the books.?
- ?The only bright spot in the first-quarter numbers is that online sales increased by 4.9% to $730.4 million, marking the first time in two years that the industry posted any positive sales figure.?
- ?The first-period plunge marked the 16th consecutive quarter of declining print ad sales.?
- ?Print advertising matters because it traditionally accounts for three-quarters of the revenue base at most newspapers, with circulation and digital media making up the rest.?
- ?More than half of newspaper readers are over the age of 50. . . . newspapers have failed to attract young readers to the degree they historically attracted their elders?”

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on July 08, 2010 (boomark / email).