KPMG reports that that consumers are “spending less on traditional and digital media than six months ago, but consuming more.”
The six-monthly KPMG Media and Entertainment Barometer released yesterday shows that average spend per UK consumer on traditional media fell from “from £9.19 in September 2009 to £7.46 in March 2010 and spend on digital media also fell (from £1.99 to £0.98).”
However, media consumption increased. The average monthly consumption of traditional media rose marginally from 11 hrs 40 minutes in September 09, to 12 hours 13 minutes. Hours spent consuming digital media increased 17 per cent, from 6 hours 14 minutes to 7 hours 28 minutes, confirming the importance of online and digital channels in communications campaigns.
Of concern to media executives though is that 21 per cent of newspaper readers paid nothing for news over the past month, compared with 15 percent six months ago. In London this almost doubled – 23 percent to 41 percent – highlighting the impact of the Evening Standard move to a ‘free’ model. And today we hear on BBC Development Manager Stephen Martin’s Twitter feed that “free copies of The Independent out on the streets of London via the Standard distributors“. This was followed by by other people commenting that said newspaper was also being distributed for free in Brighton.
With the increasing majority of respondents saying that they’d paid nothing for accessing online news portals – up from 84 percent in September 2009 to 88 percent in March 2010, the belief that news should be free appears to be absolute and will be challenge for executives pushing the ‘paywall’ model. Of course The Times is rolling out its paywall for The Times and Sunday Times in June and we wait to see if this is a success.
Looking at the figures though we should note that those aged 16-24 are more likely to pay for online content than their older counterparts, who are themselves spending more time on social networking/blogging sites – increasing from 37 to 45 per cent.











Technology and the rise of ‘real-time public relations’
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010Last week Google decided to launch a salvo against the news industry by attacking plans by some outlets to introduce paywalls.
Armed with an array of statistics Google’s Chief Economist Hal Varian highlighted how “newspapers have never made much money from news” and that they could “save a lot of money if the primary access to news was via the internet.” In effect, what Varian was saying is that print is dead, bin the paper and move all your content online. Simple. But is he right and would such a strategy save the news and publishing industries?
Of course such an attack appeared designed to position Google as the saviour of these industries. Using statistics designed to confuse, Varian wanted people to see how referrals from Google news to publishers websites were helping outlets maximise their advertising revenue.
Personally I would question how Google is going about promoting its argument. After all, no industry likes to be kicked when they are down.
The fact of the matter is that the news and publishing industry is currently learning and experimenting how to make money from their presence online. Launching such an attack now is only designed to confuse an industry into making a premature decision.
At the recent London Financial Times Digital Media and Broadcast conference (#ftmedia10), Penguin’s CEO John Makinson presented a beautifully crafted showreel that highlighted everything that I personally believe in. The video gave industry opinion-formers that were present the argument from the perspective of the reader and consumer. The reel was designed for the publishing industry but is very much relevant to not just the news industry, but public relations. Reaching our audience is important, and while they might not be seen spending time on news sites they might still be talking about news on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms.
The PR message on news sites ads authority to a client, a message on social networking sites adds presence. At the conference WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell outlined his view that social media is “less commercial phenomena, they are more personal phenomena.” Social media is not an area for advertising, but for public relations.
For public relations social media is a great new tool that through which clients can engage with its audience. And technology toys such as the iPad allow the news and publishing industry to reach out to audiences at home or work. Such items allow us to present more than words. It will allow us to promote in real-time. We’ve known about this channel and the opportunities it presents for some time. Today, clients are slowly changing how the communicate. They want to engage directly with consumers, either directly or through authoritative news outlets. What we have to make sure we do is to listen and talk, rather than just talk.
Tags: communications, content, conversation, journalism, news, pr, press, public relations, publishing, real-time, social media, social networking
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