Newspaper Decline Is Worst Since 1996
Newspapers are increasingly feeling the impact of a varied media landscape, according to a new report from eMarketer, with circulations in the US at their lowest point since 1996.
John Strum, executive director of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) explained the situation, stating: “Two years ago search engines were not viewed as much of a threat, (but) over the past year newspapers have recognized their effect.”
“The threat is real,” states eMarketer’s report, with daily US newspaper circulation dropping by 1.9% in the six-month period ending March 31 to represent the largest decline since 1995-1996, when circulation fell by nearly 2.1%.
American Sunday circulations have also declined, shedding 2.5% of their sales year on year over the last six months.
The decline in newspaper sales has been steady in America, with a downturn of between 0.5% and 1% since circulation peaked in the mid-1980s. However, this year’s drop has shocked many in the business, with John Morton, a newspaper industry analyst telling eMarketer: “I don’t see any bright spots and I don’t see any reasonable expectation this is going to change anytime soon.”
Elsewhere, the NAA and Scarborough Research reports that adult readership is in continuing decline as a percentage of the population, with the exception of younger and older readers, as only 19% of America’s 18-34 year olds rank newspapers as their “primary source for current information.”
The proliferation of broadband internet access and digital TV is blamed for the slowing of newspaper sales, with Merrill Brown, a media consultant and founding editor-in-chief of MSNBC.com stating: “The future course of the news, including the basic assumptions about how we consume news and information and make decisions in a democratic society, is being altered by technology-savvy young people no longer wedded to traditional news outlets or even accessing news in traditional ways.”
eMarketer concludes, however, that the so-called “youth-drain” is not solely responsible for the decline in newspaper sales. The real reason, its report summises, is that readers are now able to access a far greater number of news outlets which did not exist 20 years ago, including the online sites of the newspapers themselves, meaning that information and news is available for free, at a more convenient time.
The situation has been similarly bleak in Britain, with national daily and Sunday newspapers in long term decline, and these latest American figures suggest that a more positive outlook for the UK newspaper industry could still be some way off (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up – April 2005) ABC National Newspaper Round-Up – April 2005) .
eMarketer: www.emarketer.com