The Decline in Newspapers: MM Case Studies

The decline in newspapers: MM case studies

With impeccable timing, the latest issue of Media Magazine has two case studies on British newspaper brands and their recent decline.

The New Day

The New Day was a brand new newspaper launched by institution Trinity Mirror earlier this year and folded after just two months. Complete the following tasks on your blog:

1) Read the feature: 'A New Day for British journalism' on page 6 of Media Magazine 57 (our Media Magazine archive is here).

2) What was the New Day trying to achieve?

They were trying to appeal to people who don't usually buy newspapers. It was suggested by Alison Phillips - the editor - that sales have declined because people have ' [not] fallen out of love with newspapers as a format, but because what is currently available on the newsstand is not meeting their needs'. As a result they believed they needed to create a paper that meet the standard of the readers they are trying to appeal to, (aged around 35 - 55 years) and being affordable.

3) List the key statistics on the first page: how many people buy newspapers in the UK? How has this declined in the last year?

O Today  lasted for 10 years, closing 17th November 1995
O The Independent launched in 1986 until 26 March 2016, but its sister publication i remains both print and online wise.
O The European lasted only 8 years, publishing once a week. ( 1990 - 1998)
O About six million people but a newspaper daily in Britain.
O Over a million people have stopped buying newspapers altogether in the past 2 years. 

4) What audience were the New Day trying to attract?

It was aimed at 35-50 year olds whom aren't particularly interested in the format or traditional media. The Paper was short, only 40 pages long and the edit could be described as magazine like.

5) Why do you think the New Day failed so spectacularly? There are several possible reasons listed in the article but do develop your own opinion here as well.

• They increased their price from 25p to 50p which reduced the audience, falling to 40,000. It was also around the same price as pre-existing papers.
• Their market research gave little variety in terms of answers and influenced a more positive result.
• No strong USP (unique selling point)

Even though these issues would have contributed to the failure I think that the people behind it were too optimistic, the failure to conduct proper unbiased market researched also resulted in a false sense of hope. Also the lack of a unique aspect to appeal to the hard to reach audiences was overestimated from the very beginning.

The Guardian

The Guardian is another British newspaper struggling with a steep decline in print sales. However, the Guardian's survival strategy has been built around a global online approach to digital content. Complete the following tasks on your blog:

1) Read the feature: 'Can The Guardian survive in a changing media landscape?' on page 9 of Media Magazine 57.

2) List the key statistics on page 10: How many unique digital browsers used the Guardian website in June 2016? What are The Guardian's latest print sales figures? How does this compare to the Telegraph? In terms of finances, how much did the Guardian lose in 2015? 

O 3rd most read newspaper (120 million a month)
O 9 million daily unique browsers.
O Only 161 000 in print circulation
O Loss of around £70 million in 2015.

3) What has been The Guardian's strategy for reversing this decline?
'In March 2016, MediaWeek reported Guardian Media Group’s ‘plans to

make the company more efficient, reduce costs, and attain new growth opportunities.’

The guardian has developed its ability to deliver 24 hour rolling coverage of Major news events. (The responsibility is shared between the US and Australia). They provide online content for free.

4) What global event did The Guardian's digital coverage win awards for?

'The Guardian’s reporting on the Paris attacks won praise not only from readers but from the Society of Editors. At their Press Awards for 2015, the Guardian was winner of the Website

of the Year.' 

5) In your opinion, will the global website strategy be enough to save The Guardian?

I do agree that the guardian will be in a suitable position to save itself, its online presence is only growing however they do have to make sure that they are maximising the profits. However the internet is always changing in many aspects so a new stratify may be needed within the next 5 years at least.