More Readers Putting Down Newspaper To Visit Websites

The Audit Bureau of Circulations reports that American newspaper circulations declined by 3% over the spring and summer, reflecting how readers are shifting to the Internet for news.



Web readership on the other hand has climbed. What does this mean for major newspapers? An overall business strategy to move from print circulation to the online medium. Executives noted that newspaper Web sites — unlike their print counterparts — drew a lot of young adults, who are sought by advertisers. But advertisers have generally not considered an online reader to be as valuable as a print reader, so it remains to be seen what effect the numbers will have.

If we let economics run its course, the internet has definitely overtaken the print industry. More of almost every market is located online. This doesn't mean though that print will die. Whereas the web is virtual, print is still tangible and since it still has an edge in terms of seniority, I doubt print will go away but business-wise. Management should start thinking about exploring the online medium vs. the long trusted print industry. This shows that the better business strategy for now would be for major newspapers to start beefing up their online portfolios.