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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2020, @11:02AM
20 years ago we had this new fangled Internet. I remember using things like Yahoo! News - cutting edge. I wanted to buy subscription to local newspaper. They were ahead of times and they actually provided subscription with a caveat - you also HAD TO get the print. And subscription from local news was like $30/mo, like regular. But if you were out of local delivery area, it became $5/mo... Needless to say, they never got my business. Today they are in trouble, still trying to peddle printed subscription though for last few months they have "digital only" for $4/week. But today I just subscribe to NYT for $5/month instead.
So yes, I'm also 40 years old and the only thing paper I ever subscribed to was a monthly magazine. Even that today would only be good as a PDF instead. And with PDF, I can annotate and write all over it without screwing up the original version. Even flyers I only look at the PDF version or the store app on my phone for deals. Heck, even my local library has paperless access to current newspapers as ePub download. Paper news is out for almost everything.