NEEDFINDING CASE STUDY: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE CIRCULATION

2004 Circulation:

Weekdays: 499,008

Sundays: 553,983

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE CIRCULATION

In 2004: The San Francisco Chronicle was the 12th largest circulation newspaper in the U.S.

In 2013: It fell out of the top 25 largest newspapers

DISCUSSION

Why has the San Francisco Chronicle suffered even more than other papers?

READERSHIP

NEWSPAPER READERSHIP BY AGE

SF CHRONICLE’S NEWS EXPERIMENTS

1994: Chronicle becomes one of the first newspapers to launch a website – SFGate.com

2009: Print edition is redesigned with new logo, new features; adopts narrower paper; uses high-quality glossy paper for some pages

2011: Chronicle launches iPad app

SF CHRONICLE’S NEWS EXPERIMENTS

2013: Launches SFChronicle.com, premium website

2013: Launches new mobile app February 2014: Launches “incubator” to spur

innovation March 2014: Launches subscription-only

website (paywall) August 2014: Ends paywall

LET’S HELP THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

WHAT DOES THE CHRONICLE NEED?

More readers Younger readers New sources of revenue New products Stronger connection with readers

YOUR ASSIGNMENT – PART I

Discuss the Chronicle’s needs with your group and choose a focus (new products, new sources of revenue, new ways of reaching readers, new ways to deliver the news, etc.) with a goal of attracting younger readers

Develop a needfinding exercise for a group of 4-5 college student test subjects (focus group, interviews, observation, etc.)

Discuss how to implement the needfinding exercise.

Conduct the needfinding exercise

YOUR ASSIGNMENT – PART II

Discuss your findings with your group Based on your needfinding exercise, develop

an action plan for the Chronicle, which could include development of new products, services, news delivery methods, etc.

Focus on 1-2 key projects Report back to the class