Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Newspapers Declining: Reuters Shocked; Ad Spending Down: No Kidding; Free Digital Economy Fact Book: We Like "Free"
Newspapers cutting staff... Sounds like Reuters just figured this out. BLS data have been showing newspaper weakness for quite a while.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-08-21T205115Z_01_N17303231_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-NEWSPAPERS-JOBS.xml&src=rss&rpc=23
It will get worse. Read this paragraph from the article:
Nearly all the recent announcements promise pinpoint reductions rather than deep cuts. The reason publishers prefer a steady trickle, experts say, is that newsrooms are stretched too thin to allow deeper slashing.
Companies that do little tweaks to their workforces rather than significant restructuring in light of what the industry will look like 2 or 3 years out will end up with constant bleeding, and nothing fixed at all. Don't forget that in some newspapers, union contracts were formed at the time when newspapers were invulverable.... just like the U.S. auto industry was. And how long before the U.S. industry restructured itself and got on the right track? Ummmmm..... it hasn't. Don't expect it here.
May ad spending down, according to TNS media intelligence. When I get the company release, I'll post it, but for now, here's the AdAge article.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=111421
The Progress & Freedom Foundation has released its 8th annual "Digital Economy Fact Book." It's an overview of the breadth and depth of the digital economy, worldwide. It has chapters on e-commerce, the communications industry, the hardware sector, digital media, the global use of the Internet and threats (like spyware, spam, etc.) to the digital economy. The report is downloadable as a PDF for free.
http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/books/factbook_2006.pdf
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-08-21T205115Z_01_N17303231_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-NEWSPAPERS-JOBS.xml&src=rss&rpc=23
It will get worse. Read this paragraph from the article:
Nearly all the recent announcements promise pinpoint reductions rather than deep cuts. The reason publishers prefer a steady trickle, experts say, is that newsrooms are stretched too thin to allow deeper slashing.
Companies that do little tweaks to their workforces rather than significant restructuring in light of what the industry will look like 2 or 3 years out will end up with constant bleeding, and nothing fixed at all. Don't forget that in some newspapers, union contracts were formed at the time when newspapers were invulverable.... just like the U.S. auto industry was. And how long before the U.S. industry restructured itself and got on the right track? Ummmmm..... it hasn't. Don't expect it here.
May ad spending down, according to TNS media intelligence. When I get the company release, I'll post it, but for now, here's the AdAge article.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=111421
The Progress & Freedom Foundation has released its 8th annual "Digital Economy Fact Book." It's an overview of the breadth and depth of the digital economy, worldwide. It has chapters on e-commerce, the communications industry, the hardware sector, digital media, the global use of the Internet and threats (like spyware, spam, etc.) to the digital economy. The report is downloadable as a PDF for free.
http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/books/factbook_2006.pdf
