First, Craig’s List literally destroyed classified ads by offering free local classified ads in most major cities around the world.  Wham!  Overnight, the lucrative classified advertising departments of most newspapers were put out of business.  “Check Craig’s List” has become a thread of basic, accepted behavior when looking to find something most typically found in classified ads.

Then, basic distribution and advertising in daily newspapers came under assault with free web sites that offered much less expensive (lower revenue) online advertising.  But newspapers kept producing their print editions since they still generated a lot of revenue. 

Now, with the iPad just a few months old and an onslaught of tablets hitting the market in the next six months, you’d expect that at least one major newspaper publisher would likely reorganize itself to adapt to the new world of digital publishing on tablets. If fact, two have just made such an announcement.

On Friday, Aug. 27, USA Today announced it was reorganizing to focus on digital publishing -- primarily on tablets -- and ‘de-focus’ on print.  This is just the first of a whole series of similar announcements that I expect we’ll see over the next couple of years.  And, on Friday, Sept. 10, the New York Times announced that ‘at some point in the future’ they will cease production of the newspaper. 

Make no mistake here: digital publishing, primarily through tablets, is going to sweep through the entire publishing industry.  There’s no going back as in “Oh, we tried digital publishing on tablets and it didn’t work out.  We’re going back into print publishing.  It was all just a fad.” That is never going to happen.

I actually like reading a newspaper.  It’s good to hold it in your hand, flip from page to page.  There’s a tactile feedback and your eyes can view material that is often 30” wide and 20” tall.  You can snack on one headline and then another and deep dive on stuff that you find interesting.  I keep thinking, “Nah, they’ll never stop producing newspapers.”  Now, with the USA Today announcement, I think we’ll be seeing the dying of a multi-hundred year old industry during our lifetimes. 

The reason that publishers are migrating to digital tablet publishing is simple: it’s where the readers are.  And readers enable publishers to make money.  Many young people are going to grow up with one or more tablets in their family.   Soon, everyone will have a tablet from young kids learning to read through adults.  Yes, print – primarily in the form of specialty magazines – will still be around for quite a while; however, newspapers likely will simply go digital.

There are a number of advantages to newspapers publishing on tablets.  First, it’s cheaper.  It’s also immediate so that if a breaking story develops, publishers can update it on your tablet almost immediately.  Tablets enable integration of audio and video.  Tablets can more easily be searched, and you can browse by sections more quickly than by using the paper.  Finally, you don’t have to wash the ink off your hands when you’re done reading a tablet. 

I have to hand it to USA Today for making such a bold move.  Their reader app for the iPad is excellent and very intuitive (better than the WSJ or NYT in my opinion).  I often enjoyed getting a copy of USA Today under the door at most Marriott Hotels I visited over the years and then couldn’t read it except when online.  The iPad experience is much better than via the Web – much more like reading an actual paper.

While the NY Times announcement doesn’t mention a specific date, I think it’s likely within five years.

Newspapers are valuable. But in a growing mobile and digital world, the newspaper is going to morph and become re-born on digital tablets with integrated ads and multimedia.  Long live the tablet-based newspaper!

Written By:

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D.
Principal Analyst
Mobile & Wireless
MobileTrax LLC
gerry.purdy@mobiletrax.com
404-406-5309
 
Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column.  If that situation happens, then I’ll disclose it at that time.