Pew 'State Of The News Media': Most News Outlets See Revenue Challenges
March 15, 2010: In its 2010 "State of the News Media" report, the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism says its data suggests "a clear pattern in how Americans gravitate for news: people are increasingly 'on demand' consumers, seeking platforms where they can get the news they want when they want it from a variety of sources rather than have to come at appointed times and to one news organization."
Only online and cable news saw their audiences grow year-over-year from 2008-2009, Pew reports, with most of the cable news gains seen by Fox and, in daytime, by CNN.
Pew's analysis of Nielsen Net Ratings data on 4,600 news and information websites found that collective unique visitors grew by 9.25 percent, with the top 7 percent of sites drawing 80 percent of the traffic. The "legacy media" still make up the majority of the most popular destinations, although, Pew notes, "each year newly created websites are joining the list." Of the news sites that draw half a million visitors a month (or the top 199, excluding consulting, government, and information databases), 67 percent are from legacy media, and 48 percent from newspapers.
Cable news saw its prime-time viewership rise 7 percent overall from 2008-2009, with daytime up 16 percent, while network news audiences have fallen 2.5 percent year-over-year, with the NBC Evening News adding viewers and ABC's World News Tonight seeing the largest losses. But network news still draws on average more than five times the viewers that any cable news channel is likely to have at any given moment in prime time.
Local TV news, Pew reports, is also "seeing rapid audience declines beyond those in network, and those numbers appeared to accelerate in 2009," with late-news viewership down an average of 6.4 percent. Print circulation declines also accelerated in 2009, with circulation down 10.6 percent industrywide. The newspaper industry has seen a 25.6 percent loss in daily circulation since 2000.
Audio audiences, Pew reports, are more stable, noting that "Fully 236 million Americans listened to at least some radio in an average week in the fall of 2009, a number that has been basically static for the past five years, and news/talk/information remains among the most popular formats." But "new technology is encroaching on the amount of traditional radio use," with more than four in 10 Americans reporting that they listen to the radio less due to iPod or MP3 use, and nearly one in three saying they listen to Internet radio.
Revenue Still Under Pressure
On the revenue side, broadcast radio's ad revenues fell by 18 percent in 2009, and, though Internet and mobile radio revenues are growing -- projected by Pew to grow 9.4 percent in 2009 -- they "do little to alleviate the pressure" on audio revenue. Sirius XM's revenue has also risen, but, Pew notes, the company has reported net losses for the past three years.
Local television revenues fell 27 percent from 2008-2009, but the report says "most analysts predict a better 2010, buoyed economic recovery, a Supreme Court decision overturning limits on campaign spending and a midterm election year" -- although the numbers will be "pressured" by declining audience and more ad options.
Cable revenues for the "three major players" -- Fox, CNN, and MSNBC -- were up less than 1 percent in 2009, but profits were up 9 percent on average. Online advertising, meanwhile, fell year-over-year for the first time since 2002. Pew cites eMarketer data projecting that spending fell 4.6 percent in 2009.
Looking at "News Investment," Pew points to newsroom cuts at newspapers, network TV, and local TV news and notes, "In audio, news plays an unusual role. The number of stations identified by Arbitron as news/talk/information rose in 2009 to 1,583, up from 1,533 in 2008. This category is broadly defined and includes a large amount of talk programming."
There are 27 commercial stations around the country that list themselves as all news, down from 31 the year before, says Pew, but adds, "And even here the label is self-defined and may include talk or other less news-oriented programs. In commercial radio, local all-news stations now tend to be limited to only the largest markets."
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(3/16/2010 11:19:20 PM) Perhaps these facts will help the traditional media outlets to wake up to the reality that people are looking for more than the current glossed over agenda setting information it's delivering. I am glad to come across sites such as this that reports information that we can use and need to know. |
| - DA Williams |
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