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New York Times CEO Mark Thompson says he expects the end of the physical newspaper in 20 years:
The New York Times was founded in 1851, but it would surprise outgoing CEO Mark Thompson if the physical paper made it to 2040.
"I believe the Times will definitely be printed for another 10 years and quite possibly another 15 years — maybe even slightly more than that," Thompson told CNBC's A View from the Top. "I would be very surprised if it's printed in 20 years' time."
More than 900,000 people subscribe to the print version of the newspaper, said Thompson. At its current subscriber levels, the paper could be printed seven days a week at a profit without a single advertisement, he said.
But as readers become more accustomed to reading the Times on smartphones, tablets and computers each year, a printed paper is clearly a dying form. The New York Times Company reported last quarter that total digital revenue exceeded print revenue for the first time ever. Print advertising fell more than 50% year over year from last quarter, driven by both secular declines and the pandemic. Thompson told CNBC he doubts that advertising will ever come back.
"I'm skeptical about whether it will recover to where it was during 2019 levels," Thompson said. "It was already in year-over-year decline for many years. I think that decline is probably inexorable."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2020, @11:33PM (1 child)
They may be losing money, but rich dudes are clambering to buy them. They still form the Overton window, they still serve as a trebuchet to attack your political enemies.
I've been thinking how a newspaper could still be a profitable enterprise by itself. The national news and significant commentary are already owned by the big boys; more often than not you can get that from a website. But local still matters, and in flyover country, state coverage can be lacking in the national media. And as the lockdowns have shown, those levels have a greater impact on our lives than many thought.
Add to that classifieds: garage sales, moving sales, pets, cars, bikes. And if you can get them, legal notices. Make use of people's ability to quickly scan a newspaper page vs navigating a website.
Price is important, nobody is going to spend $2+ for the local paper that just fills itself up with wire service trash. Report the facts, don't tolerate political animosities in the news section that will offend half your customers. Keep the price as low as possible: free, 25¢ or 50¢, a convenience purchase. USA Today (do they still exist?) kept the 50¢ price for nearly 20 years, so keep costs contained. Change the format to tabloid to make it easy to handle. If color is expensive, forget it. Don't give out your assets for free on a web page, unless the ad revenue truly makes it a positive.
I think that would go a good way to a viable print product.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @11:10AM
Craigslist and local alternatives like kijiji.
Hyperlocal newsprint still exists but it's mostly just run by local ads. I don't envision any of this run by subscription service. When you move away from the hyperlocal into a market with 100+k customers, you are getting squashed by the Internet. Soon enough, the hyperlocal news will also get squashed like the classified sections.
Print news is dead or dying. Trying to hang on to it is like trying to hang on to a BBS.