Just as people are rediscovering vinyl records, more people are writing about rediscovering print. Read what Brian Sullivan wrote at CNBC earlier this week.
A few months ago I made the decision to reactivate a few of my print subscriptions. Not all of them, but most of my favorites. Soon I realized that what was sitting on the table – right in front of my face – was much more likely to be picked up and (gasp) read.
Then there is a story late last month at The Globe and Mail about publishers discovering print. While sales or many (but not all) mass-market magazines are declining, niche and special interest titles are growing as interest in newspapers we can trust.
Mark,
My belief has always been commentators have completely misread digital.
Yes, News, Fairfax (who I think have completely stuffed up their print editions for digital space) and others need to be in the space, BUT it’s not the space – yet.
A history lesson 🙂
Theatre
Cinema
Radio
Television
VCR
Internet
Cinema was going to kill off theatre
Radio was going to kill off Cinema
Television etc, etc
We now live in a time were all of the above mediums survive and yes they have adapted to there new environment.
Print and digital will co-exist – do I know the percent ratio NO – does Mr Murdoch – probably not, My best guess from sitting on the far outside is, print 15-25 years no problem will it change yes – will it disappear NO.
And there is the sermon from me for today – remember, if you see a sunrise on your way home from completing your deliveries, it’s going to a good day.
Bye
John
John,
I think that it’s actually most readers that misinterpret commentators on digital media. When they talk about print dying or being dead it’s almost always in reference to its current mass-market form. There are very few people who would think that print won’t survive in some niche form.
One could argue that, technically, cassette tapes aren’t dead … but considering only a tiny handful of people still use them it would be difficult to describe them as being alive. If one describes cassettes as dead it doesn’t necessarily mean they are no longer produced by anyone, it just means that, comparatively, they make up a minute fraction of their former market.
At the heart of the challenges of print is revenue. For newspapers, the loss of classified advertising revenue years ago is still playing out. Recent declines in display advertising are diving more layoffs. For magazines it’s the same but they didn’t carry classifieds so they missed the first round print media revenue hit.