Disruption & Opportunityin the News Business

Steve ButtryIndustrial College of the Armed Forces

April 9, 2012

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Your media use• Mobile (tablet, phone)• Computer (laptop, notebook, desktop)• Broadcast (TV, radio)• Print (newspaper, magazine, book,

newsletter)

In past 6 years• Lost a lifetime’s growth in print ads• Newspapers’ print advertising fell from

$47.4M (2005) to $20.7M (2011) • Inflation-adjusted decline: 62%• Fell to 1983 level in raw dollars• 1954 level adjusted for inflation

This change is tectonic, not cyclical

Clay Shirky:

“Nothing will work,but everything might.”

Matt Welch:“Never has there been more journalism produced or consumed, never has it been easier to find or create or curate news items, and yet this moment is being portrayed by self-interested insiders as a tale of decline and despair.”

John Paton:

“You don’t tinker or tweak a broken model. You start again

anew.”

Digital First principles• Digital First & print last• Put the digital people in charge• Engage the community• Core competencies: Local content & local

sales• If it’s not core: reduce it, stop it, sell it or

outsource it

Foundation to build on:• Strong brands• Local content• Local sales force• Journalistic integrity

Engagement = value• Computers & archives for

community use• Open news meetings• Blog network• Classes• Digital audience 5x print• From loss to profit

Jim Brady:

“There's no silver bullet. There's just shrapnel.”

Why “give it away”?• Wall Street Journal, Arkansas Democrat-

Gazette have longtime paywalls• NY Times introduced “meter” last year• LA Times, Gannett adopting paywalls• “Gate” or “meter” allows some free

visits, doesn’t count social or search

Why “give it away”?• We never charged for content• If paywalls “work,” benefit is marginal• You need to spend that money & energy

developing a model for the future• Paywalls attempt to protect a failing

model• Only newspapers are trying paywalls

John Paton:

“’You’re gonna miss us when we’re gone’ is not much of a business

model.”

Paid content opportunities?• Premium content (specialized)• Unique, high-value content• Membership (get more than content for

your payment)• Mobile, tablet subscriptions• Even if people will pay, can you make

more money w/ larger free audience?

Mobile Opportunity• 83% of U.S. adults have cellphones• 57% have smartphones• 28% have media tablet• 28% considering tablet purchase in next

6 months

Source: Reynolds Journalism Institute 2012 study

Mobile-first strategy• Text alerts• Email • Applications (phones & tablets)• Social media (tweets, check-ins, tips)• Location-based news, info & commerce• Easy-to-use mobile websites• Device-flexible (not device-agnostic)• Games (phones, iPads great for games)

Read more about it• stevebuttry.wordpress.com• slideshare.net/stevebuttry• @stevebuttry• jxpaton.wordpress.com• stephenbuttry@gmail.com