Media Agility
PRINTACTION March 2004
25
Associates, shows that advertising supported media
lost over 10 per cent of viewing hours in the years
between 1994 and 1999, while consumer-supported
media gained over 40 per cent in the same period.
The study projects these trends will continue.
Media Consumptions
Hours Lost/Gained
1994-1999
2002
Advertising-
Supported
Media
-10.20%
-10.30%
Consumer-
Supported
Media
43.20%
30.70%
Veronis, Suhler & Associates
A study released in June 2000 by The Pew
Research Center for the People and the Press
(http://www.people-press.org/media00rpt.htm)
looked specifically at the cannibalization of broad-
cast television news by online news. "Fully one-in-
three Americans now go online for news at least
once a week, compared to 20 per cent in 1998," the
report noted. "At the same time, regular viewership
of network news has fallen from 38 per cent to 30
per cent over this period, while local news viewer-
ship has fallen from 64 per cent to 56 per cent."
More troubling still is an examination of the
media consumption habits of younger people. One
very important study conducted by the Defense
Manpower Data Center
in 1997 looked at young
people in the age group
from 16 to 24 years. While 84 per cent watch televi-
sion and listen to radio for over two hours each day,
closer to 50 per cent read newspapers or magazines
and then for as little as a half hour per day.
Media Consumption Habits
Ages 16-24
Percentage
Duration
Watch TV
84%
2.1 hours
Listen to radio
84%
2.4 hours
Read newspaper
54%
.5 hours
Read magazine
42%
.8 hours
Defense Manpower Data Center, 1997
Another study conducted
by Roper Starch in November
last year interviewed young
people aged nine to 17 years.
Sixty-three per cent indicat-
ed they preferred the internet
to television. More startling,
some 55 per cent preferred
the internet even to the tele-
phone for communicating.
The same organization
examined the percentages of
young people online today
and found that while only 30
per cent of adults aged 40 to
49 are online, 41 per cent of
teams aged 13 to 19 are
online.
The Pew Center study,
noted above, also uncovered
this trend. "Among younger
and better-educated people,
the internet is making even
bigger inroads," the report
noted. "Many more college
graduates under the age of
50 go on the internet every
day than regularly watch
one of the nightly network
news broadcasts."
Clearly one of the dan-
gers in projecting the future
of print and print publish-
ing is considering only the
media consumption habits
of adults our own age. All
studies indicate that the
next generation is going to strongly favor elec-
tronic online media over print-based media.
U.S. Daily and Sunday Newspapers
Growth in Annual Circulation Volume
1974-1979
1979-1984
1984-1989
1989-1994
1994-1999
1999-2004
1974-1999
Morning
Evening
M & E
Sunday
Total
12%
-6%
2%
6%
2%
24%
-17%
2%
7%
2%
14%
-21%
-1%
8%
0.2%
7%
-27%
-5%
0.5%
-4%
5%
-36%
-6%
-4%
-6%
-3%
-17%
-6%
-3%
-5%
72%
-76%
-14%
14%
-10%
Source: Newspaper Association of America and Kubas Consultants' estimates and projections
LIBRARIES OF THE
DIGITAL AGE
To me the most fascinating and
representative story about the
changing roles of libraries is the
reopening of EgyptÕs Alexandria
Library, reopened in late 2002
after a 1,600-year hiatus. Twenty
years in the planning and built at a
cost of more than US$200-million
the result is an 11-storey building,
it reopened with just 200,000
volumes on its shelves Š not the
million-plus envisaged. But the
director, Ismail Serageldin,
dismissed criticism that the
library is intellectually
impoverished. "The number of
books we have is really not very
important," he said. "We have the
only backup copy of the Internet
archive between 1996 and 2001,
which has 10 billion pages. We live
in a digital age. Virtual knowledge
will be our strength."
(Based on reports from Reuters)
Daily
Newspaper
Use/Read Regularly
4/5 out of 5
Local
TV News
World National
TV News
Internet for
News
Radio
News
Study Year:
1997
Base:
3005
%
Total:
Age
18-24
18-34
35-49
50-64
65 or older
33
36
49
63
70
51
2000
4003
%
24
28
43
60
66
46
1997
3005
%
44
49
62
73
81
63
2000
4003
%
36
40
53
64
75
55
1997
3005
%
17
24
37
53
73
42
2000
4003
%
16
22
33
49
58
37
1997
3005
%
7
8
8
6
3
7
2000
4003
%
23
23
20
18
7
18
1997
3005
%
31
43
55
54
46
49
2000
4003
%
25
36
54
45
36
43
Trend in: Regular use of various media in key groups (Base: Total)
Source: Newspaper Association of America and Kubas Consultants' estimates and projections
Publishers' Units
2000
Trade
903.9
2001
845.7
2002
879.4
2003
880.8
2004
888.9
-6.4%
4.0%
0.2%
0.9%
Mass Market
471.3
454.9
493.4
480.1
477.7
-3.5%
8.5%
-2.7%
-0.5%
Professional
186.7
168.1
177.2
175.3
175.6
-10.0%
5.4%
-1.1%
0.2%
ELHI
333.6
348.6
331.2
326.5
330.3
4.5%
-5.0%
-1.4%
1.2%
College
186.3
193.8
211.9
224.8
238.5
4.0%
9.3%
6.1%
6.1%
All Books
(Excl. Std tests)
2,493.2
2,411.3
2,488.3
2,474.7
2,492.6
-3.3%
3.2%
-0.5%
0.7%
Millions of Units
Source: Newspaper Association of America and Kubas Consultants' estimates and projections
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND GOVERNMENT
One of the most explosive but overlooked areas of
concern for all electronic publishers is what in the U.S. is
called "Section 508," and in Canada "Policy on the Duty to
Accommodate Persons with Disabilities in the Federal
Public Service." Basically both of these rulings require
vendors to the respective national governments to
provide digital information in a format that is accessible
to people with disabilities, whether blind or deaf (and
other). The good news is that the current generation of
digital technology makes this relatively easy to achieve.
The far-reaching implication is that if the U.S. and
Canadian governments are mandating this change, it will
soon be a requirement for all large corporations, and,
over time, for small ones as well.
