Print gets scarcer as Time Out London ends print edition and US newspapers cut print days PLUS Disney rolls out National Geographic streaming-print bundle

April 13, 2022

The economics of print are getting more difficult for a range of reasons. In the US, print is under pressure due to costs, shrinking circulation and the difficulty of recruiting delivery staff. In the days of my analogue youth, the iconic image of newspaper delivery was of a youth on his bike tossing papers to the doorstep. These days, it's usually someone in their car, getting a few hundred dollars per route, and when I was the executive editor of a handful of local newspapers, it was difficult to recruit and retain these drives. Add to that the centralisation of printing, and often people at the end of a route don't get their papers until late morning. Digital starts to make more sense for readers as well as publishers. And publishers like US mega-chain Gannett say that digital edition readership is up 140%.

And news broke that Time Out London is eliminating their print edition. The company is putting on a brave face and says that the pandemic accelerated existing trends. They said that they would lean into their digital transformation and focus on social and video.

Looking at print, Disney has an interesting way to try to support print by bundling the National Geographic premium channel with its streaming channel Disney+ and a print subscription for National Geographic.

I've been using Refind on the recommendation of Reuters deputy digital news director Nick Petrie to help me filter through media that relates to my work, and it helped me find a couple of excellent pieces on product management today. In my master's studying innovation management, it reinforced the view that sustained incremental innovation is more common than disruptive innovation. Casey Winters, the chief product officer at Eventbrite, discusses how to make the case for 'non-sexy' investments in your product. Oleg Ya outlines how to measure the value of a product and what adds value.

Back to media, revenue growth from podcasts and audio actually outpaced video last year. That might just be because video has been on a tear for a long time and the growth story just isn't as strong as podcasts, which are growing from a lower base and have seen higher investment. It's a complicated story.

PLUS CNN+ investment dramatically cut as growth fails to meet expectations. Snapchat rolls out dynamic stories for news publishers. More news on TikTok's growth, this time on the revenue side. Twitter has acquired a company to improve the relevance of push notifications. Plex, which makes media software that runs on both computers and smart TVs, is pulling the plug on podcasts and web video, which seems to indicate that use was low.

Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain, is cutting back on printed papers and pointing readers to e-editions.

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

A common issue leaders in product management, design, or engineering face is justifying investment in the “non-sexy” stuff. What is not sexy can differ by company, but usually the sexy things are

This is part of a series of articles by Oleg Ya on the basics of product management and building products that people need. In this article, you will learn to measure the added value of a product. We will use simple examples to show how it works for different types of products. In previous articles, … Continue reading "How to measure the added value of a product"

IAB report: Podcasts and music/radio streaming saw the largest growth in ad revenue in 2021, hitting a total of $4.9 billion in revenue.

A week after launching a new universal search and discovery tool, Plex is inconveniencing podcast listeners by removing support for podcasts and web shows this Friday, April 15. The company wrote in a forum: As part of our ongoing effort to make sure we’re spending our time and energy in ways that best serve our […]

National Geographic Disney+ Bundle: The Disney-owned nature brand will offer print issues of Nat Geo Kids with a Disney+ subscription.

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BBC News presenter Ros Atkins spoke in Perugia about how to break down topics for audiences so they understand the complex news stories of the day

The news giant was initially planning to invest around $1 billion over 4 years.