Years ago, at the dawning of the internet, news outlets broke from the norm by offering the news online at no addition cost. It has been almost two decades since then and several things have changed. First, the number of sources of news online has grown exponentially. Second, the technology has changed and improved, giving access to more people in more places and in more ways than ever before. Third, the online medium has grown to do something that traditional media predicted to never happen. It has grown to compete with all forms of traditional media which includes TV, radio, print, and even movies. That combined with the fact that few in traditional media have done anything to adapt to the changing world has meant a significant and continuing slump in profits and sales for them.
As times change and technology changes the world, businesses are expected to adapt to these changes to continue to compete and flourish. When cars were invented buggies, horses, and trains steadily became less and less common. The old way of traveling made less sense and thus, in most cases, became a novelty. Today we have a different revolution. The revolution of information.
Before traditional media existed news travelled slowly by word of mouth. While someone in the same community would find out about something within a few hours or days, but people outside of that community would rarely hear of it and when they did it was months or even years later. Then came mail carriers and information began flowing regularly between communities, interconnecting them in an exciting new way. Then printed news papers started delivering the same news to everyone within a day or two. Radio stormed on the scene, able to reach a much larger audience than print media, audibly and instantly sending information as soon as it reached broadcasters and providing a more personal form of entertainment. Television brought pictures and video to the audible news and added ever more value. Now we have the internet.
With the internet the news is now. Not only do you get it on your computer, but also on your mobile phone anywhere you are. News is instantaneous and viral. Within seconds the entire world can be saturated with information on some newsworthy event. Traditional media has a difficult time competing with that because most value that can be offered by traditional media can also be offered by the internet.
Newspapers, especially, are fearful and they are now trying to put the cat back in the bag. They don’t want online news to be free. They want a subscriber base, like the good old days. Just tonight I saw a TV advertisement for the New York Times online. They are offering a subscription-based service to deliver you their news reports for $4.70 per week. This is the same New York Times that sends me free news via email alerts, an iphone app, an RSS feed, and via a website. Why in the world they expect me to want to pay for the news I already get for free is beyond me. Nothing in that commercial indicated that they were offering me something new or extra. No information about advanced services, no added value whatsoever.
If newspapers expect to survive, then they need to change their business model to one that will work in the age of information. Some will say that you can’t adapt, there is no way to make money online. Most people said that about search engines, but one of the biggest companies in the world is Google and their flagship product is a search engine. If the newpapers offer content people want to read then people will come to read it. From their advertising and special offers takes over. Give the customer a reason to come and a reason to stay and you will be profitable.
Tags: adaptibility, advertising, business models, New York Times, news, newspapers, traditional media
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