TargetCast tcm Advertising Week Panel: The Future of Newspapers

Moderator: Harlan Schwarz, SVP Group Director TargetCast tcm

• Susie Ellwood, CEO, Detroit Newspaper Group and the Detroit Media Partnership
• Don Meek, President, Tribune 365
• Scott Tobias, President & COO, Village Voice Media

Moderator's Note: Harlan Schwarz, SVP Group Director TargetCast tcm, challenges the industry, "to dramatically reconstruct its advertising sales model. Currently, the industry begrudgingly shares limited information on readership by section, or day of the week, and has few mechanisms in place to create valuable cross-platform editorial offerings to advertisers. In a challenging media landscape, where data-driven cross-platform opportunities are part and parcel of media plan development and implementation, successful newspapers must rise to the challenge and become leaders in their industry".

Panel Summary:

Newspapers have a legacy of breaking news and uncovering stories of historic proportion, yet they are losing ground to a generation of consumers embracing digital and mobile alternatives. At Advertising Week 2009, independent media agency TargetCast tcm convened a panel of newspaper industry experts to debate the future of this venerated medium, how it will evolve and how it may impact the communications landscape.

According to the panel, the key sustaining attribute of most newspapers is its unique position as trusted brand resource for local news and content, not only for the consumer, but for the radio and television stations that depend on them for material. In parallel to the TargetCast tcm newspaper panel held earlier in the day, the newspaper panel also maintained that the printed page will continue to be their core product. At the same time they acknowledged that newspapers need to adapt and monetize other media platforms to remain relevant and counter the many targeting and customization limitations inherent to printed publications.

There was a general consensus that, from the consumer's perspective, the lines between newspapers, e-readers, mobile screens, notebooks, websites and other forms of news delivery are beginning to blur, with no one source currently sustainable without the others. Printed newspapers therefore must embrace other distribution platforms. Relevance is a key component in maintaining brand relationships so even the strongest and most trusted brands must keep pace with the changing tastes, technologies and social cultures of its consumers. If newspapers do not broaden into new distribution technologies and align respective content, they may not continue to resonate with the consumers and attract the advertisers critical to their survival.

Interestingly, technology may be as much a challenge as a lifeline to the newspaper industry. Many new and developing technologies will help enhance the reach and personalization of newspapers as well as the analytics, accountability and transparency critical to driving advertising revenue. E-readers, iPhones and other portable screens are changing consumer reading habits, and the pending introduction of new, more sophisticated models will draw even more readers into the e-paper news space.

While newspaper executives remain confident that the venerated printed page is here to stay, many very competitive platforms and technologies are now in development. Consider the proposed "flexible page', solar-powered e-reader with pervasive wireless internet connection, personalized content and real-time updates of stories and data with live action color photos. A rather compelling alternative to the standard newspaper -- especially to advertisers who will receive real-time analytics with granular audience measurement, readership interest by page and personalized messaging capability. This is the inevitable direction of all digital media - or really all media.