Feature
The good, the bad and the really ugly of
newspaper publishing
Tony Curcio
Publishers try to innovate in clever and unique ways
“It’s nice to see that the printed word is still, at least for
now, the most powerful medium for reporting on the death
of the printed word.”
The Onion, May 2008
Let’s start with the bad news. Arguably no print-industry seg-
ment is suffering more from electronic competition, social
media platforms and 24-hour TV news programming cycles
more than the printed newspaper. Coldset litho has remained
the principal technology and in 2016 accounted for 84% of a
world market valued by UK-based research firm Smithers-Pira
at US$41.7 billion. But newspapers are indeed fighting back
in many clever and unique ways. One successful solution
includes hybrid litho presses with digital inkjet modules. The
inkjet units can print versioned promotions, inserts or coupons
– enticing advertisers to remain in that space. Variable-data
programming as well as the versioning of editions in specific
geographic areas are also being utilized.
In addition, inkjet sales in the newspaper segment, which
stood at US$740 million in 2010, will more than triple by 2020.
But Smithers-Pira added that digital print is unable on its own
to save printed newspapers. What it can do is provide viable
new business models for existing and potential advertisers.
The bottom line is that newspaper revenue worldwide was
worth US$41.7 billion in 2016, as opposed to US$51.4 billion
in 2010. Despite this decline, digital equipment is enabling at
least some newspapers to stay competitive.
The good news
The good news is that newspapers (and press manufacturers)
continue to adapt. On the equipment side, Germany’s Man-
roland Web Systems remains the largest producer of
newspaper presses in the world. Next is US-based Goss
International which is responsible for a wide range of web
presses. So, it wasn’t surprising that the two merged in August
of this year.
Both companies said that the combined firm will benefit from
complementary geographic footprints, create extensive syn-
ergies, ensure long-term viability, and provide value-oriented
solutions. The Contiweb business of Goss International was
not included in this transaction. The new company is operating
under the name Manroland Goss Web Systems and will be
the strongest supplier to web printing companies, including
newspapers, worldwide.
28 | October 2018 | GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE
The birth of online editions
In 1994, The Halifax Daily News became Canada's first daily
newspaper to launch an online edition. Today, all daily news-
papers in Canada and most of the over 1,000 community
newspapers have an associated website. Digital readership
of online daily newspapers continues to be strong, despite a
number of newspapers implementing paid subscription mod-
els to access content.
As of 2016, Canada's daily newspaper circulation (paid and
free) stood at 5.2 million copies on an average publishing day,
and 31.6 million copies over the course of a week. There were
84 paid dailies in Canada that year and 14 free dailies, for a
total of 98 daily newspapers. Digital circulation (paid and
non-paid combined) for those papers that included this infor-
mation in their circulation audits, increased 21% to 8.1 million
per week. This 2016 daily newspaper “snapshot” is based on
circulation sourced from audit companies (AAM, CMCA,
CCAB) or owner-provided data. Also, daily newspapers con-
tinue to be strong news brands with about 8 in 10 Canadians
reading them every week. In fact, 50% to 60% of Canadians
read newspaper content every day, with print as their primary
source. All this being said, newspapers continue to face
declining revenues as readers use other platforms and
sources of content.
Newspaper strategies for survival
It’s early September and I’m reading a copy of the Star Metro
Toronto on the way to work, as I normally do. This tabloid
publication provides snippets of news along with printed QR
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