December 5, 2008

What newspaper sales stats tell you about content

by Brian Turner

A report in the Financial Times today providing stats on the fall of newspaper sales shows a very interesting trend.

Take a look at the following stats, showing year on year falls in sales:

The Independent: -8%
Daily Express: -5%
The Guardian: -4.2%
Daily Telegraph: -3.9%
The Times: -3%
Financial Times: -0.7%

It didn’t state stats for the Daily Star and Daily Mirror, but they were referred to as a fall of between 5-8%.

All show a loss, but some less than others because of a combination of strengths that they play on.

Looking at the list, most of the papers pretty much cover the same content – so one way they differentiate themselves is by taking a specific political bias.

The Daily Express and The Guardian are at very much opposite ends of the spectrum, and both a hold a unique voice which has no doubt helped slow the fall in sales. By giving generic content a unique voice, they create unique brand associations despite covering the same topics.

However, the Financial Times dominates a very particular niche of investment news, and by doing so, appears to be holding its own.

Also, the Daily Telegraph and The Times both have a very developed web presence – as does the Financial Times – and the suggestion is that the increasing role of the internet for these may also help with improved branding and sales.

Much of this remains speculation, of course, but looking at the above, the lessons are very much a matter of common sense, and overall, what we’re looking at here is all about one thing – being remarkable.

Being remarkable does not mean be the best – that’s too subjective a standard in news publishing – so being remarkable suggests the following:

1. Your Own Voice

The internet is flooded with content, so even if you are covering the same as everyone else, by giving it your own unique voice, you can stand out from the crowd more and thus attract more attention.

2. Strong Niche

Niches tend to only allow for a few to be practically active – which means that one or two can be left to be dominant. By being the authoritative voice by sector and geography, you can ensure your voice is heard.

3. Good online presence

There is having an internet presence, and pushing harder to increase your presence. No matter how competent existing strategies are, there is always room for further improvement.

The more I look at the newspaper industry, the more I see the need for a content-centered approach – which means deciding not simple to decide to appeal to users, but to appeal to a specific demographic.

This is a point social media marketers such as Lyndon Antcliff have really underlined – the need to think about the users whose attention you want to attract, and then find ways to leverage this through a range of cues.

You can also see it directly online at sites such as the BBC and The Register – both of which have different selling points – the former on it’s objective authority, the latter on its personal voice – both of which are strengths each develops to its advantage.

I met someone recently who is running a local paper in North America. It’s currently running at a loss, but from what he said, it seemed that there was too much focus on advertising and not enough on content – a common internet mistake. So I pointed out (helpfully) on how he should push on a content-centered strategy, as well as fully embrace the net as a publishing medium.

In that way, the irony is that what web publishers learn from the print industry, they can then teach back in return.

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Story link: What newspaper sales stats tell you about content

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