Complete Story
11/16/2017
A rant for print: Newspapers must do better job telling their story
Podcasting is a growing business for many media companies, and I listen to several podcasts each morning. One of my favourite podcasts — a weekly political talk show recorded before a live audience — has a segment called The Rant Wheel.
There are a number of different topics on The Rant Wheel. The wheel is spun and guests on the show — usually actors, comedians, and journalists — can rant about whatever topic the wheel lands on.
After reading the third-quarter earnings reports for the largest U.S. newspaper publishers, well, I just feel like ranting. The topic the wheel has landed on for me is “Print Newspaper Advertising Declines.”
As expected, a common theme in the third-quarter earnings reports was the continued decline of print advertising revenues:
- Gannett reported an 18.7% drop in print advertising revenues.
- The New York Times reported a 20% decline in print advertising revenues.
- Total advertising revenue at tronc was down 14% in the quarter.
- McClatchy reported a 13.4% drop in total advertising revenue — driven, primarily, by softness in traditional print advertising.
While there is some positive news on the digital advertising front, the declines in traditional print advertising continue relentlessly.
So, here is the question at the heart of my rant: Why do advertisers continue to leave print when there is so much evidence to prove that print advertising works?
