Göteborg: Newspapers are still big business
By Leah McBride Mensching, Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 18:14 :: Sfn Homepage :: #1726 :: rss
Göteborg, Sweden - Newspapers are a growth industry, and much of the uncertainty surrounding the industry is unfounded, stemming from commentators who are “making a profound mistake,” World Association of Newspapers President Gavin O'Reilly told the 61st annual World Newspaper Congress in Göteborg, Sweden, on Tuesday.
“I find it rather remarkable for an industry that is built as the fourth estate, with a proud legacy that goes back more than 400 years, I'm amazed at how unsophisticated the conversation is. Brokerage reports seem to support the conventional wisdom that newspapers are to be a relic of the past, or that they will only exist digitally. All of these commentators are making a profound mistake,” O'Reilly said at the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper session. “We don't need to reinvent the newspaper – I talk about evolution, not revolution.”
Newspapers are a US$190 billion industry that connects to 1.7 billion people around the world every day. Global sales of paid newspapers grew by 2.7 percent last year, while advertising is expected to grow by 17 percent over the next five years, O'Reilly said, citing SFN research data.
Martha Stone, director of the SFN project, advised the audience to simply look at the facts, and “ignore the hype that is being thrown down by our detractors.”
The newspaper industry is experiencing a paradigm shift, and no one knows which solutions will win out in the future, and which competitors will thrive, said Hans Bandhold, partner and CEO of the Denmark-based Kairos Future. To work toward future successes, newspapers need to learn where they belong, and excel at their main business, he added.
Discussing the SFN strategy reports, Stone said what newspapers are facing now, and will face in the future, in terms of new digital developments and other issues, mainly depends on where the newspaper is located.
“It depends on where you are in the world and how much effort and focus you put on that part of the business,” she said. “But if there's one message, it's that (digital is) part of our revenue mix, but it will take a long time to develop it into a real business” for most newspapers in the world.
O'Reilly told the audience he believes the problem with predictions for overall online statistics is “how remarkably imprecise they are.” No matter what the figures are, people must realise that of the total number for online revenues, more than 60 percent are taken by online giants Google and Yahoo!.
“That has to inform your investment decision,” he said. “A headlong pursuit for online, and not investing ... in what (newspapers) know and understand, they're investing in areas that they think is bigger than it actually is.”
Growing and adding to online is good, but if online takes away from the core print product, it's counter-productive, he said.
For more information on Shaping the Future of the Newspaper reports, visit futureofthenewspaper.com.
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