Traditional media's slide in popularity continues

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

New Media editor Don Fenley casts a big net for hidden gems about and behind the news

Traditional media's slide in popularity continues

Published Monday, December 15 2008 - (0) Comments

According to one of the Web sites that tries to keep track of job cutbacks at newspapers 15,422 U.S. newspaper jobs have gone away so far this year and I don't hear any of the media watchers say the trend is slowing.

According to the Gallup Poll only cable and Internet news have shown significant gains in popularity since 2006, while all other media are stable or declining

The poll update on Americans' go-to news sources reveals little encouragement for traditional news media.

According to the poll, "local television news continues to be Americans' preferred source of daily news, with more than half of Americans (51%) saying they turn to it daily. Cable news and local newspapers are everyday sources of news for 40% of Americans. And for the first time since Gallup began asking this question in 1995, significantly more Americans say they turn to cable news networks daily than say they turn to nightly network news programs, though it is worth noting that the popularity of the network news programs has remained fairly stable compared with recent years".

It shouldn't surprise anyone that he Internet has shown the biggest increase in popularity as a news source. Thirty-one percent of Americans now say it is a daily news source. That up nearly 50% since 2006 and a more than 100% increase from 2002.

So what's the bottom line?

Gallup says, "in already-tough times for the news organizations, there are few signs that things will get easier anytime soon. Only cable and Internet news sources appear to be growing their audiences in any measurable way. At the same time, most media are holding steady or slipping only slightly, which may come as good news for some. Together, these data suggest the audience may still be there for most traditional news sources, underscoring the need for media organizations to find new ways to turn eyeballs into revenue. For many, this may require discovering creative ways to capitalize on the growing thirst for Internet news."

CLICK HERE for the full poll and data sets.

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