In an earlier discussion we mentioned the closure of the Seattle Post Intelligencer. It’s the Hearst paper around here. It is no more, except on the web. Many other papers across the land are closing.
Several people are moaning loudly about the closures and they have plenty of moans to share. One point of view is that the business model requires ad sales to support the news function. I think that’s kind of awkward.
The “product” of a newspaper is the news. The goal is to provide an easy way for busy executives, plumbers, and various regular humans to spend some quality time paging through the paper and reading the stories that interest them. It’s a scanning function. You glance at a hundred headlines and read more if it catches your interest.
In order to scan around the paper and see all those headlines you also get to wade through a ton of ads. That’s what pays the bills. If you want to see what Hillary did today, or what Joe Biden said, or how many more kids the octomom, Sarah Palin, has you need to pass over the ads. And they are also trying to catch your eye.
For example after spending Saturday cleaning out gutters you might be reading the Sunday PI and run across an ad for “Gutter Beanies” which are guaranteed to keep everything, including old newspapers out of your gutters. “Say, that’s just what I need,” you blindly say and you write down the 800 number. That’s how it works. That ad helps pay salaries in the newsroom.
Other people are saying the real reason newspapers are folding (hee hee, get it?) is that they took on too much debt in ill advised expansions. For example the New York Times bought the Boston Globe. Now Boston Globe is folding and the Times still has to pay off the purchase which means it may be in trouble as well. Isn’t big business fun?
Either way the income is from ads. You have to sell a lot of ads to pay off debts or pay newsroom salaries.
My view is that they should figure out how to market the news function directly without depending on the ad revenue stream. Like I actually know what I’m talking about. Please see the rules for this blog.
Anyway, one interesting way to move to direct news marketing is electronic. I was saying before that Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and their fellow travelers should take a hard look at a very portable reader that can provide the look of a newspaper to the reader (customer).
One cost of newspaper production is the physical delivery to millions of homes and newsstands. An environmental cost is included but that’s not part of the newspaper business cost.
If you eliminate the paper version and deliver it electronically the whole printing and home delivery stream would be saved. They could charge a small subscription fee and your news would be delivered throughout the day as it happens, or once a day, whichever you want.
Well, guess what? Amazon has introduced the Kindle DX which is a large format version of their electronic book reader. It’s supposed to provide a much better rendition of the printed page for publications larger than books. Newspapers and magazines are the target. Amazon already delivers those to the current Kindles but they don’t look like a regular paper page.
Another prime target is text books. College students pay upwards of $900 for their books these days. A Kindle book could substantially reduce that cost. A major problem in colleges is that text books have regular edition updates so last years’ texts are suddenly worthless which means much of that $900 is lost. The book store won’t take them back if a new edition is out there.
Enter electronic versions. The student (parent) pays a small fee, much smaller than the physical book price, and gets the latest edition. The new Kindle holds 3500 books. A person could use it for an entire ten year education (that’s how long it took me).
This powerhouse retailer has already proven the electronic reader is a winner. What that does is spur others into the market. Maybe General Motors can market a version and help get back on its feet.
I know! How about the Fiat Chrysler Reader?? Just mount them on the dashboard and include a quick release so people can take them to class or coffee. Boy am I smart.
My point is the newspaper soaking up rain on your front steps is losing ground. What you need is a way to get that “news perusing” feel in a 21st century device. Just wait, it’ll catch on. How will we start our fireplaces in the future?
OK, I’m not shilling for Amazon. I’m just saying someone is on the right track. Some of the attributes of these reader devices really are better than a paper book or magazine. You can append notes and save them along with the snippet of text. It’s really very well designed and that’s the key to success of any consumer product. Look at the ShamWow. Then read Consumer Reports. “Sham” is the keyword. But Amazon has a winner in the Kindle line.
Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, has the new one and he loves it. Mine is the clunky prehistoric version from a couple years ago, but it works fantastic and I read a lot more now than I used to. Plus I don’t have piles of books to get rid of.
Al
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