Newspapers: paper and web. How to evolve and react
Paper editions of newspapers have less and less appeal, struggling newsstands.
Digital versions, on the other hand, continue to grow, with room for improvement, considering that they now count for only 11 percent of total versions.
Over the past seven years, average daily newspaper sales in Italy have declined by more than 1.6 million copies (Fieg, industry health report, covering 2011-2013).
But has the number of readers dropped?
Reading data show“robust growth” in readership up to the last survey cycle in 2011: from about 19.5 million in 2001 to over 24.9 million at the end of 2011. Thereafter, however, began an uninterrupted decline that saw print newspaper readership shrink to 20.6 million at the end of 2013, with a cumulative decline of 13.4 percent between 2011 and 2013.
For newspapers, especially since 2007, a decline in circulation began to widen, reaching very high peaks in 2011 (-6.8 percent) and 2012 (-8.1 percent). The decline seems to have eased in 2013, but the considerable size (-5.2%) remains. It is consoling, but only in a manner of speaking, that this negative trend does not only affect Italy: between 2008 and 2012, global newspaper circulation dropped by 2.2 percent.
On the web + 1 mln
However, while the readership of print newspapers declined, the readership of the websites of the same daily newspapers made a remarkable leap, rising from 2.7 million to 3.7 million, or one million more readers on the web, a cumulative increase of 36.2 percent.
For the periodical press, Audipress reading data indicate some constancy in reading levels through mid-2012. Since then it has gone from 32.8 million readers in the last period to 28.4 million in the third survey cycle of 2013, about 4.4 million fewer readers with a 13.6 percent cumulative decline.
In the same time frame. readership of periodicals’ websites rose 20.9 percent, a growth rate considered “sustained,” albeit smaller in size than that recorded by newspapers.
What is the most popular daily newspaper?
The most widely circulated daily newspaper(data collected in January 2014) remains Corriere della Sera, which in October reported selling just under 320,000 print copies, rising to 401,000 with subscriptions to the various digital formats, compared with a circulation of 444,000.
In second place is La Repubblica, which has dropped below 300 thousand paper copies sold (296 thousand to be exact), but this rises to 354 thousand with digital formats (total circulation has dropped to 382 thousand copies).
Among the major newspapers, the third largest in terms of print sales remains La Stampa with 183 thousand copies, but it is overtaken by Il Sole 24 ore when digital sales are also counted (216 thousand vs. 256 thousand).
How can newspapers respond
Certainly it is clear that the convenience of having content that is always up-to-date, searchable , shareable, and navigable from any device connected to the Internet (desktop pc, mobile) are very attractive features for the average reader.
The available information and variety of sources today are numerous and varied, both in terms of topics and quality.
Digitize your newsroom, study forms of payment for ad hoc content, implement advertising revenue on the digital channel, equip themselves with tools to simple but effective content management , good ranking tools for Google ‘s spiders and for getting on Google News lists, thinking about an App, are all ideas that need to be scrutinized with due attention.
The Neikos experience
In recent years, Neikos has put its know-how at the service of publishing by collaborating with various newspapers to study and optimize their tools and potential.
Eightpages
Adriaeco
Living Senigallia
Tv7
Sannio Press
