Media disruption

I’ve been going on here for a while about tablets and their likely impact on how we access and consume content which we currently (or previously) accessed via print. My visit to the CES trade show in Las Vegas this week has certainly reinforced my belief that tablets and the decides which follow will forever change how we access content.

Based on the latest devices released and complimentary announcements here in the US by service providers, publishers and telecommunications networks, these tablets will not only be our games devices, books, newspapers and magazines, they will also be our TVs, workstations, diaries, phones, home controllers and plenty more.

While there are a few ways newsagents can make money around the tablet phenomenon, they are not traffic generating.  Our focus needs to be on new ways of generating traffic.

Our channel was created by publishers and for more than 100 years publishers have more or less controlled our businesses or at least key parts of it.  As tablets become more widely used, the need for our channel will become less. This is why we need to be aware of what its happening here in the US and take the opportunity of time which is on our side for the same impact to be felt in Australia. It’s one reason why coming to the CES show is so valuable.

I’ll have a bit more to say about this when I get back, maybe at the national Tower newsagent user meetings which start next month. I think there are opportunities for newsagents today, good opportunities.  However, to those who dismissed tablets here when I have written about them, they are here to stay, their use will grow across all demographics.

A hallmark at trade shows, particularly US tech. trade shows if the free magazines with articles about companies at the show and news of interest to show attendees. At this year’s CES show in Las Vegas I saw plenty of print magazines from the show daily through to special editions of other titles.  Time Inc. took a different approach though. In the space where their magazine would have been available for show attendees was a flyer promoting their tablet editions and providing free access for a limited time.

I was surprised but given the nature of the show and that we are in the era of the tablet, the move makes sense.

Paid Content has reported on this move, providing more context on this move by Time.

I was surprised for a few seconds when I saw this newsagency on one of the stands at the CES show. Even though it looked out of place in this mega trade show dedicated to today and tomorrow’s digital life, here was a representation of a US version of our type of business … well how it looked years ago.  In fact, this stand was showing off a 3D TV screen. The newsagency like set was to provide colour – to show off the girl and her flowers in full 3D.

As for the show itself. It really does capture the digital life of today and provide a sneak peek into the digital life of tomorrow.    Along the way I have seen products which newsagents could sell and products we should know about. It is also answering some questions I have had but more on that another time.

I am in Las Vegas at the moment at the Consumer Electronics Show, checking out gadgets, trends and all things consumer technology.  Hence earlier posts.

A report by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism speculates that within five years only four US daily newspapers will in print.  While there are plenty who disagree with the prediction, the report which is about the US being at a digital turning point is most fascination and challenging.  Included in the report is this prediction about retail:

8. The Internet will continue to create shifts in buying habits, at the expense of traditional brick-and-mortar retail.

The most current Digital Future Study found that 68 percent of Americans buy online, and 70 percent of online buyers said their online purchasing reduces their buying in traditional retail stores.

“We are seeing only the beginning of the shift in American purchasing habits brought by the Internet,” Cole said. “Five years from now, the traditional retail landscape will be completely different than it is today.”

Makes one wonder about long leases with restrictive permitted use clauses.

A colleague at my newsagency software company shared a story about his 85 year old grandfather using an iPad for the first time over Christmas. Within a few minutes of being shown the Herald Sun iPad app he was reading the newspaper and loving the experience. The real test came when he wanted to do the crossword. Again, he loved the experience, declaring the iPad a hit.

The experience turned someone who figured that the older readers would be the hardest to convert from print to digital into a believer that digital has no age barriers. The question from those who watched the 85 year old was not a matter of if newspapers would end but when.

While I do see challenges for newspaper sales in the near-term, I see less challenges for magazines, especially special interest titles and magazines which offer valued content. We are making the most of traffic today to connect with shoppers in new categories and to become known in these.  Our focus is on key occasion shopping and habit based shopping. These are two excellent opportunities for newsagents.

So, while I recognise that print readers will migrate, we are adjusting the business to ensure relevance and, indeed, drive new traffic.

The digital-first strategy at The Guardian newspaper in the UK is being blamed by the decision to roll some previously separate sections, sports, film & music, into the main newspaper and to cut pages from the overall product.

With News and Fairfax having increased their focus on digital access to content we have to wonder if we will similar moves here. I;d expect so as newspaper publishers continue to chase a model which delivers the best return on the costs of editorial content.

A report from eMarketer just out claims that Americans are spending more time reading their phones than print.

The table summarises the data gathered for the study which resulted in the report.  It’s an interesting read, but no surprise.

Not the difference in the reduction in engagement for newspapers compared to magazines.  It’s in line with other moves we see for the two mediums, newspapers are being more affected today by tablets than magazines.

Amazon last month launched their lending library, a facility via which Kindle tablet users can easily share books.  As if these portable reading devices were not enough of a challenge to physical book sales.  It’s a logical move I guess … and more moves are sure to come as the devices and the software on them evolves.

Check out the products available from JibJab Jr. Books.  They are taking engagement with kids books to a new level … off the printed page and to the iPhone and iPad.

The JibJab pitch is very simple:

With JibJab Jr. Books, you can make your child the STAR of the show. In just a few simple swipes, you can create personalized storybooks that feature your child’s face and name. Your child will be enthralled by the great stories, colorful art, and awesome animations in every JibJab Jr. book. So download the app, turn out the lights and take your child on a personalized journey!

While this may not reflect an obvious connection with newsagents, I see a big connection.

Just as we have a generation living today who have not heard of cassette tapes or cartridges or even laser disks, we are seeing the development of a generation which may never know about printing on paper.

The melancholy aside, what JibJab is offering is very cool.

Check out this video showing off a flexible display from Samsung…

Read more about it at Engadget.

Check out the video at All Things Digital of a discussion with Peter Chernin, former President of News Corp.  While he talks mainly about TV, its pursuit of change which is worth hearing about.

The reports overnight about the first feature film to be shot entirely on a smartphone show how rapidly our world is changing and how powerful these phones in our hands have become.  Check out the YouTube footage showing how it was done.

For under $5 a week, people in selected Asian countries can have the International Herald Tribune home delivered for under $5 a week and get full digital access to the the IHT as well as full digital access to sister masthead The New York Times.  In checking this out I went online and found an even better offer for travellers – full access to IHT and NYT for 99 cents for four weeks.  Talk about migrating print customers online.

When I think about it, it’s what I would do if I were a publisher and thought I could achieve a more economic model from digital subscribers.

Newsagents should check out the report at Paid Content about a move on the e-single format by Hachette and Bloomberg Businessweek.  As e-singles evolve we will see more and more content sold as single stories or small collections of stories.  This is a move which disrupts print.

Check out the article at Folio about how Playboy is using Facebook to promote the title.  Playboy has 5 million followers, more than any other magazine, almost twice more than the next popular title on Facebook.  Facebook is giving Playboy an excellent, low cost, platform through which to cultivate new followers of the brand.

While I think that Facebook can plan an important role in marketing any business, I am not relying on it because, as I have noted previously, the owners of Facebook can make a decision which could quickly eliminate the value of building Facebook followers.

Check out this video from Dorling and Kindersley UK.  While it was produced to inspire those in book publishing, it is just as relevant to everyone involved in magazine publishing.

Publishers, distributors, newsagents watch the whole thing…

Yes, those of us who rely on print in our businesses face challenges. It we believe that these challenges are a death spiral then it probably will be. The alternative is for us to read the script a different way, to create our own successes.