Newspaper Numbers

I admit I was ready to start writing a euolgy for my daily newspaper. In my city, we have two, and that is the only way they can survive. They don't compete for dollars, they have a joint operating agreement that has been in place for decades.

If they can focus on their strengths, they might make it another decade or more.

But their business model is broken. And unless they (or their parent companies), find a way to create positive cash flow, they are doomed.

Mediapost last week shared this latest update on who reads the paper and also who would be willing to pay for online content.

Daily Newspaper Reading (Print or Online) Down to Two in Five

According to the findings of a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll, of 2,136 U.S. adults surveyed online between December 14 and 16, 2009 by Harris Interactive, the era of Americans reading a daily newspaper each and every day is coming to an end.

Just two in five U.S. adults (43%) say they read a daily newspaper, either online or in print almost every day. Just over seven in ten Americans (72%) say they read one at least once a week while 81% read a daily newspaper at least once a month. One in ten adults (10%) say they never read a daily newspaper.

Frequency of Reading Daily Newspaper (% of Age Groups; Base: All U.S. adults)
	Age Group
Frequency	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
At Least Once a Month (Net)	81%	71%	83%	85%	88%
At Least Once a Week (Subnet)	72	59	72	76	82
Almost every day	43	23	36	44	64
A few times a week	17	19	23	23	10
Once a week	12	18	14	9	9
A few times a month	9	12	10	9	5
A few times a year	9	12	9	9	5
Never	10	17	9	6	7
Source: The Harris Poll, January 2009

One reason for the dying of the daily newspaper, says the report, is the graying of the daily readership. Almost two-thirds of those aged 55 and older say they still read a daily newspaper almost every day. The younger one is, however, the less often they read newspapers. But less than one quarter of those aged 18-34 say they read a newspaper almost every day while 17% in this age group say they never read a daily newspaper.

One potential business model that newspapers are exploring is charging a monthly fee to read a daily newspaper's content online. This model, however, seems unlikely to work, as 77% of online adults say they would not be willing to pay anything to read a newspaper's content online. While some are willing to pay, one in five online adults would only pay between $1 and $10 a month for this online content and only 5% would pay more than $10 a month.

There is a slight regional difference in who would pay for online content. Over four in five online adults in the Northeast say they would not be willing to pay anything to read a daily newspaper's content online. Those across the country, however, are more willing. While seven in ten Westerners still say they would not pay, almost one-quarter of Westerners would pay between $1 and $10 a month to read a paper's content online.

Amount Willing to Pay (per month) For Daily Newspaper Content Online (% of Category Respondents; Base: All online adults)
Payment		Region
	Total	East	Midwest	South	West
Nothing	77%	81%	76%	78%	71%
Willing to pay (Net)	23	19	24	22	29
$1 - $10	19	15	18	17	24
$11 - $20	4	4	5	5	3
Source: The Harris Poll, January 2009

The report concludes that the struggles of the daily newspaper will continue as Americans have more and more ways to find the news content they need and want. The challenge for newspapers will be discovering a way to get their content to people and make money doing so. One area they were intently exploring was charging for online content, though it appears they need to find another way.

For more information, please visit Harris here.

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