Skip to main content
NY Times Incline or Decline?
I recently attended Incisive Media’s ePublishing Innovation Forum in London. It is put on by the same team that bring the industry the iconic London Online conference. They put on a good conference with some really great speakers. Vin Crosbie, a media consultant presented some information about the decline in newspapers, specifically citing the decline in readership at the New York Times.

The question I raised was how looking at only one metric is misleading. Sure, people are not consuming as many dead trees as they used to. Where I live in CT I can only receive the Times for home delivery on the weekends. However, I receive the excellent DealBook newsletter every morning, plus emails containing the top news headlines every day. On the home pages I maintain there are links to NYT headlines as well as a variety of RSS feeds from the auto sections, food sections and from freakonomics. (I also download a crossword from time to time). The implications for advertising are quite significant.

Is it anyone’s job at the NY Times to profile me as a subscriber? Probably not yet but by looking at the self selected items above, you could deduce that I’m interested in business, economics, food and autos – and you’d be right. My NYT consumption may be less in terms of time spent than when I used to read the print from cover to cover. However, my consumption is now more valuable and targeted as there is less waste. Invariably the metrics will catch up with consumers like in the same way that the Nielsen’s are tracking TV, radio and beyond. This composite “metric” may show some growth in these properties if someone can figure out the arithmetic.

Comments

Vin Crosbie said…
Excellent point, Ed! Something I need to add and specify in my future speeches.

The number of subscribers to the whole New York Times will decline but the number of people who subcribe to a part of the NYT will probably increase! It traditional package 'unpackages' online, but this lead to more overall users.

The overall point of my speech last week was the people are gravitating the parts they want and not using the traditional package.
Ed Keating said…
It really creates an interesting management challenge to try and coordinate all the piece parts.

It reminds me how some publishers realize the value of the API and the administration functions can be more important in the sale than the actual content coming down the pipe.

Popular posts from this blog

Cannabis Industry Resources

In May 2015 Cannabiz Media was formed.  As one of the co-founders, I've learned a lot about this fascinating industry.  In order to share what I've learned I have compiled the following list of resources to help you learn about key companies, recruiters, associations, newsletters and financial institutions Newsletters/Blogs  – This is a sampling, there are a lot out there.. General Cannacurio Highly Objective - excellent analysis and reporting.  Weekly with content I don't find elsewhere. MJBiz Daily -  https://mjbizdaily.com/ Cannabiswire – long form journalism -  https://cannabiswire.com/newsletter/ Marijuana Moment --  https://www.marijuanamoment.net/category/newsletter/ GreenMarket Report – Debra Borchardt   https://www.greenmarketreport.com/ Gangapreneur Cannalawblog  - from law firm of Harris Bricken.  Excellent overviews and insights on many cannabis and psychedelic topics via another blog Regional / International GrownIn - very strong regional reporting.  They s
Publishing Industry Contacts (Updated December 2019) As I've moved through the information industry I've collected contacts about associations, financial firms, companies, recruiters and consultants.  I've maintained it as a word document and am finally moving it online so that I can refer job seekers and industry researchers there.  I'm hoping it will be easier to update and more permanent.  Please send any additions, deletions or corrections to ed.keating@gmail.com or use the comment feature below. 1) Associations a) SIIA – Software & Information Industry Association. They cover the content and software area quite well. . i) FISD.net – Financial division of SIIA b) SIPA – Specialized Information Publishers Association (merged with SIIA) c) American Business Media – Founded in 1906, American Business Media is the association for business-to-business information providers, including producers of print publications, websites, trade shows and other medi
You Should Never Say "What Customers Need to Understand is..." I always cringe when product people utter the words “What customers need to understand is…”.  To me it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how to serve a market.  I saw this sentiment reported in a recent  New York Times article  on the hearing aid market which explained that the pricing model is essentially a forced bundle where two thirds of the price was for service, including hearing evaluation, counseling and adjustments over the life of the product.  This approach has put a pair of hearing aids at or about $5,000. The manufacturers believe, and perhaps rightly so, that diagnosing and treating hearing loss are too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional and therefore justifies the forced bundle.  However, in this age of self-service people will search out their own solutions. By assuming a status quo approach with forced bundles and captive customer