Analysis of the reasons why the newspaper industry can not achieve online profit

更新时间：2020/12/28

Why can't newspapers make profits online? When I saw the "paywall" in the Baltimore Sun, I asked myself. Of course, I'm not a big user of the newspaper, but I'm very curious about people discussing the hot topics in the newspaper. I like reading the sun's blog, especially the food blog. Now that I have read international and domestic news through other channels, the only reason for me to continue to watch the online version of local newspapers is its blog. But now that the sun's toll wall has appeared, what does that mean. For me, it's not worth reading the sun's blog for $2.50 a week because it has other free alternatives. In addition, half of the reason I still read the sun is because of its comment posts. The sun is still attractive when it comes to discussing local topics. I believe that other local commentators have also seen its toll wall. When many local journalists turn to new local websites such as Baltimore brew, why should I stay in the sun?

To be sure, in the past few years, the sun has not been the only local newspaper with a fee wall. After failing in its early attempts, the New York Times twice launched a fee wall, but at the same time it reserved users the opportunity to link to social networking sites. This should be a relatively successful model. According to statistics, in the first three months, there were 1 million paid users, 750000 print subscribers and 57000 tablet users accessing the New York Times. In addition, the London Times has not abandoned the toll wall. I am interested in why newspapers should first consider setting up a charging wall. After all, there are a lot of websites that operate through advertising, and more than half of online publishers' revenues increased last year, according to the analysis of the economic research group. Obviously, we can make a profit from online publishing through free subscription. So why can't newspapers do that? Newspapers have the advantages of local users, brand awareness and long-term distribution structure.

Of course, the existence of this problem is restricted by many factors. China's circular newspaper publishing has led to a 20% rise in newspaper prices. Gasoline prices are also rising, leading to higher issuance costs. The national newspaper industry laid off employees. At the same time, the profit of digital media is rising. Is the digital trend a good thing for online newspapers? At first glance, it's a good thing: online newspaper reading is on the rise. But while online reading is on the rise, according to a University of Missouri survey, 50% of newspapers contribute only 9% of their online editions. According to comScore, the average CPM for online advertising is $2.52. The average CPM for newspapers is $6.99.

If you analyze the CPM rate of the media, you will find that the printing media is worse. According to a 2008 survey by the Borrell alliance, the CPM of newspapers is more than $60, three times that of TV media, six times that of non value-added cable media, and nearly 20 times that of online advertising. If you want to discuss the issue of effectiveness, the time cost and reaction rate of specific media, you will find that the problem with newspapers is that their prices are far away from the market. Is newspaper advertising 20 times more effective than online advertising? Is newspaper advertising 100 times more effective than social media advertising? Imagine the targeting ability of social media platforms such as Facebook, and we will find that newspaper ads with 100 times effectiveness can't tell us whether users have read them or not.

The newspaper can't make a profit because its price deviates from the market. It is an indisputable fact that the newspaper distribution is shrinking due to the intensified competition of all kinds of new media. Since 2001, the investment in newspaper advertising has been declining. However, the real problem faced by newspapers is that they are slow to respond to competition and fail to reduce the advertising rate to a competitive level in time. Today, we can get information from different sources, and it's free, rather than just relying on newspapers.