April 22, 2004

Youth Ignore Newspapers

Readership of newspapers is declining among the 18-24 age group, and some in the industry think the problem is packaging and marketing, rather than the product itself.

From Editor & Publisher:

"Your newspaper is in peril," John Lavine, director of the Readership Institute, told a packed room of newspaper editors and publishers here today. Lavine was speaking about the latest findings on young readers released at a joint conference session between the Newspaper Association of American and American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Readership is declining among 18- to 24-year-olds; and those that do read newspapers spend less time doing so. One third of those young readers are considered heavy readers and 61% read their daily paper over the course of a week with an average reading time of 20 minutes - much less than older readers, especially those over 65. "The [danger] is real. You can't have a business where your older customers are not replaced," urged Lavine.

The New Readers study, surveying 10,800 readers among 52 dailies, found advertising is one of the key drivers to readership in that age group and that they seek out image ads with a narrative flair. They also seek value for their money. In this regard, Lavine said newspapers are way behind the curve: "Just about all advertisers are offered a youth demographic in every other medium save for newspapers."

One telling example of how the newspaper industry doesn't quite "get" the online revolution: The Editor & Publisher story does not provide a direct link to the survey the story is about, nor does it provide a way for readers to comment on the story or the survey. Instead, it is the typical top-down "we know what's important for you to know" approach to journalism that turns off the Internet generation. That - not a failure to cleverly package and market newspapers to the 18-24 demographic - is why newspapers are in peril.

UPDATE: John Sturm, president of the Newspaper Association of America, seems to get it:

With an economic recovery taking hold, newspapers have a chance to spur their transformation from traditional "ink on paper" companies to more broad-based media that lure readers in new ways, said John Sturm, president of the Newspaper Association of America.

Sturm, speaking at the group's annual meeting Wednesday, said people are demanding instant content on what matters to them, and that newspapers have to exploit the latest technology to provide it.

"People want to consume their media where, how and when they choose," Sturm said. "They want to look only at the ads that interest them. Until someone comes up with TiVo for newspapers ... we are the quintessential 'pull' media."