Is there a thread for the rapid death of the newspaper industry?

color me surprised

My sources say that not only is nobody subscribing to the website, but subscribers to [The Times] itself—who have free access to the site—are not going beyond the registration page. It’s an empty world.

"Times loses almost 90% of online readership
Less than three weeks after the Times paywall went up, data shows a massive decline in web traffic"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jul/20/times-paywall-readership

(linked to from http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/07/27/london-times)

looks like someone already pointed this out upthread

"london times" lol

well what rupert wants, rupert gets

on the other hand, advertising is fucked too:

“We have been so overtly dependent on advertising as the turbine that runs this place, and that is a very, very risky model as we emerge from the recession,” Condé CEO Chuck Townsend told The Times. “In a company like ours where 70 percent of our margins are generated on the advertising side, we must develop a much, much more effective financial relationship with the consumer.” That is, get money from the consumer instead of the advertiser.

Good luck.

interesting article about conde nast and news apps, and how they might be more attractive advertising platforms than the web - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/16/ipad_saves_wired/

The bind is pretty obvious - the more you charge -> the fewer subscribers you have -> the less you can make off advertising (unless your smaller subscriber base is especially worth targeting due to being loaded or some such)

im not an expert or anything but it strikes me that publications charging for their web advertising on a per-click basis are seriously undervaluing their ad space.

i've only just realized that it is impossible to click on an actual newspaper advertisement

therefore they should be free!

exactly

I don't know how much online advertising costs but it seems like it should be the same cost as print per reader/viewer PLUS a per click fee

i know all ads aren't like this, but i can't believe anyone actually clicks on something like, say, the little Google text ads they've started inserting at the bottom of YouTube videos

^ i'm sure there are surveys and all that proving me wrong, but this^

like, HOLY SHIT "Custom Profile Layouts"! man, just want I've always been looking for! (custom profile layout for **what**? and what the fuck does this have to do with Radiohead playing "High and Dry" on Jools Holland in the mid-90s?)

ok then the video ends and some audio starts up advertising American Military University

none of that has anything to do with Radiohead, and the chances that someone watching the same video I was watching would actually click on any of that shit is zero. if anything, I'll probably be more apt to just associate whatever brands pop up randomly with this stuff with spammy activity in general

the ads in the sidebar on my gmail- now these are pretty good, have used and will use again

lol

nah srsly, car rental for hols this week, bike hire last week, these guys know what's up

Drifting a bit off topic here possibly - but the subtitles google have implemented for YouTube, which use automated voice recognition technology, are an offshoot of their desire to scan YouTube videos for key words to allow them to target advertise more effectively.

Obv lots of pitfalls here - automated voice rec tech still has lots of problems associated w' it (hence the low quality of the captions in many cases) and you can't always guarantee that verbal content matches the point of the vid (the radiohead song problem perhaps), but they'll be able to charge more for ads if they can show a decent level of targeting.

Britain’s most outrageous newspapers, Daily and Sunday Sport are looking for an ambitious trainee reporter to join the busiest news desk on “Fleet Street”

To fill the role you must be keen, sharp, unshockable and hungry for the story. You will have a love of tabloid-style reporting and an interest in all things topical from Kelly Brook’s cleavage to Wayne Rooney’s bald patch.

The successful candidate will be a team player with a great sense of humour and a flexible approach to working hours.

NCTJ qualification or equivalent is a must. Newspaper or news agency experience is a bonus.

In return, you will get on-the-job training at a world famous national newspaper group and the grounding for a glittering media career. Starting salary is £16k.

ty

;)

Amazing letter in today's Western Daily Press:

http://imgur.com/W8Jzz.gif

LOL, couple downstairs from me have a Union Jack doormat. They're Russian.

There's a Celtic supporters' club round my way who bust out a Union Jack doormat for their Christmas parties etc. Classy

http://imgur.com/ie9Fi.jpg

XDDDD

Already looking forward to seeing him become Lord Coulson when he leaves his role as our government's highest paid adviser:

A dozen former reporters said in interviews that hacking was pervasive at News of the World. “Everyone knew,” one longtime reporter said. “The office cat knew.”

One former editor said Coulson talked freely with colleagues about the dark arts, including hacking. “I’ve been to dozens if not hundreds of meetings with Andy” when the subject came up, said the former editor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The editor added that when Coulson would ask where a story came from, editors would reply, “We’ve pulled the phone records” or “I’ve listened to the phone messages.”

Sean Hoare, a former reporter and onetime close friend of Coulson’s, also recalled discussing hacking. The two men first worked together at The Sun, where, Hoare said, he played tape recordings of hacked messages for Coulson. At News of the World, Hoare said he continued to inform Coulson of his pursuits. Coulson “actively encouraged me to do it,” Hoare said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/magazine/05hacking-t.html

The Time paywall appears to have just come down.

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1027766/Times-circulation-falls-16-year-low-below-500000/

Rupert Murdoch's The Times has fallen below the 500,000 circulation figure for the first time since April 1994, according to ABC figures today.

huh? paywall is still up and running

Oops. Which understates. Heavily.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/media/06tribune.html

...the staid company, came to resemble a frat house, complete with poker parties, juke boxes and pervasive sex talk.

The name of the CEO who wrought these changes? Randy! Just too sweet.

Two friends who work at The South Florida Sun-Sentinel said it feels like a demilitarized zone in there.

L.A. times media columnist was on Madeleine Brand's show this morning talking about it, they must not be able to fire him from Chicago??

http://www.scpr.org/programs/madeleine-brand/2010/10/06/party-at-the-la-times-frat/

Pouring over an article, are they?

LOOK OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW DUDE
(lol kpcc you're better than that)

Hahaha

Access to the website, and all our exclusive stories, pictures and videos, costs just £1 for 24 hours, or £1.99 for a four-week subscription.

After Mr. Michaels arrived, according to two people at the bar that night, he sat down and said, “watch this,” and offered the waitress $100 to show him her breasts. The group sat dumbfounded.

“Here was this guy, who was responsible for all these people, getting drunk in front of senior people and saying this to a waitress who many of us knew,” said one of the Tribune executives present, who declined to be identified because he had left the company and did not want to be quoted criticizing a former employer. “I have never seen anything like it.”

This passage really drops the ball by failing to clarify whether breasts were shown or not.

Dumbfounded...by breasts?
"I had never seen anything like"... those breasts?

GILLIAN ANDERSON Actress: 'The Independent cares about the things I care about, and so does i.'

JAMIE THEAKSTON Broadcaster: 'At last, a paper that recognises that people in a hurry don't have to be treated like idiots'

JAMES NESBITT Actor: 'The Independent is my favourite paper but sometimes I don't have time to get through it. For those occasions, i is just what I need'

PETER YORK Social commentator: 'We live in a time of radical solutions - and this is one. I love the idea of a modestly priced newspaper for people who can actually read.'

NOEL GALLAGHER Musician: 'It's a top idea to have a paper for clever people who can't be arsed to spend hours reading every day'

RONNI ANCONA Actress and author: 'The launch of a new newspaper happens only once in a generation and I'm breathless with excitement for the launch of i. It's everything I've been waiting for'

CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN Broadcaster: 'I'm properly excited about i. It sounds like the kind of paper for a girl like me.'

DOM JOLY Comedian and journalist: 'i is a breath of fresh air in the quality newspaper world - all the best of the 'Independent' in a concise read. I is very excited....."

ROSS KEMP Actor: 'I wish i the very best of luck. It's aimed at real people living real lives, and it deserves to succeed'

"I is very excited....."

you can tell he's a comedian

"It's aimed at real people living real lives".

Really narrow niche market, this.

er, bite the guardian's style much??? jeez

Sounds more like a Metro that you have to pay for.

Can't work out if Noel Gallagher's trying to zing "clever" people or thinks he is one of them.

Newspaper extinction timeline (click the image there for a PDF)

http://rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2010/10/launch_of_newsp.html

Have seen a few graphs like this, and they almost always extrapolate out a steady decline at current rates, and then wait until that hits zero and proclaim that d-day. But actually papers will die long before that -- you don't keep a huge newsroom going on a circulation of 10,000, for instance. 2019 seems wildly optimistic, basically.