Newsosaur: Newspapers Consider Printless Days
No time to write today, but I picked this none-to-delectible tidbit up from Alan D. Mutter at Newsosaur while surfing during lunch and had to share:
In one of the most startling of the potential initiatives, an amazing number of publishers of all sizes are giving serious consideration to eliminating print editions on certain days of the week, according to private conversations with operators who requested anonymity.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday editions, which typically carry the least amount of advertising, appear to be at the most risk.
With demand for newspaper advertising this year plummeting in every category (including online since March), industry ad revenues in 2008 are likely to be no better than $38 billion, or nearly 25% less than they were when sales hit an all-time peak of $49.4 billion in 2005.
An interesting notion, and one I hadn’t trully considered until just now. I suspect in the end, publishing only a few days a week will be unworkable for most publications due to union contracts, etc. Additionally, many of the hard costs endemic to print publishing and delivery will remain, ie, the presses, the trucks, etc.
The big point to keep in mind is that no one would have ever mentioned such a notion out loud in the hallowed walls of a newspaper even a year ago. How far we have fallen…