Good news for newspapers?
Read about it online.
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In sharp contrast to striking declines in both advertising revenue and circulation on the print side, newspapers’ online counterparts posted record growth in 2006:
- Annual
ad spending on newspaper web sites rose 31.5 percent,
reaching a new high of nearly $2.7 billion.
- Online
newspaper viewership increased 22 percent over the previous
year.
- Traffic
to blog pages at the top 10 newspaper web sites grew
a staggering 210 percent in December.
The most cautious of newspapers
are beginning to invest more money in their web sites,
even at the risk of cannibalizing existing businesses to
develop new ones on the Internet and other new media formats.
And many news organizations are pushing
faster, further:
- Collaborating with technologists to
develop digital editions to distribute on handheld reading
devices.
- Looking beyond the traditional
newspaper industry to fill key strategic positions.
- Partnering
with competitors to penetrate niche markets and achieve
breakthrough economies of scale.
- Sending correspondents
into the virtual world of Second Life to report on what’s
happening and – who knows? – maybe dig up a
few new revenue streams.
Stranger things have happened. Consider Schibsted, the big Norwegian news corporation that embraced new media back in 1995 and continued to invest heavily in its digital properties. Today, Schibsted’s online businesses account for more than 50 percent of the company’s operating earnings and 35 percent of its overall revenues. Already the largest Internet presence in Norway and Sweden, it is currently expanding aggressively into several new markets, including Spain and France.
News, not ‘content’
To be sure, it’s no simple task redefining a publication’s core business model, basic news cycle and fundamental distribution methods. Add to the morass that advertisers and readers are dealing with their own tectonic print-to-digital shifts, and it’s easy to wonder how so many publications have made such impressive strides to date in terms of the breadth, depth and caliber of information they provide to both their print and online audiences.
The fact that business results are
beginning to reflect these efforts is certainly welcome
news for the industry. More important, however, is what
the numbers bear out: People still value high-quality journalism.
Sure, they want breaking news fast, and they want it updated
around the clock. But just being first, no matter what
you’re first with, isn’t good enough. Readers
have come to recognize the difference between credible
reporting and mere “content,” that untidy heap
of confusion cramming page after page of search results.
By applying the same elements that won readers in the first place – credibility, timeliness, insight, relevance – while harnessing the vast opportunities new media offer in terms of information presentation – newspapers will not only succeed financially, they’ll rediscover their purpose.
And that’s not just good news for the industry. It’s good news for all of us.
— Faye Richardson |
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Above
the fold
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Readers with smaller screen resolutions
remain a concern, but less so as the vast majority of people
continue to upgrade their equipment (and those who don’t
face a web experience so severely diminished that screen
width is quite likely the least of their viewing problems).
The question at this point isn’t whether to go wide or not, it’s how to make the best use of the new space.
Top heavy?
Everybody loves the idea of a wider screen. I do, too. Not really. Well, it depends...
Not that space isn’t good. It’s just that it gives everybody — editorial, marketing, advertising, and so on — more to divide up.
At the old 800-pixel width, the reader is served up
maybe 4 to 6 basic elements “above the fold” (the
area of a page visible before scrolling). At 1020 pixels, up
to 12 elements can fit above the fold. This creates a lot of
great opportunities to present well-rounded news and advertising
content — that is, if the newfound space is used effectively.
This means avoiding the temptation to load up the top of the page with too much stuff. It’s precious space, and I’ve witnessed many a real-estate grab turn an effective delivery into subdivisions of gray.
And that’s just a big, wide drag.
Words to the wide
Here are some guidelines I use in designing wide-format
news sites:
- At 1020 pixels you can fit three
ample ads above the fold, usually with one ad partially
dropping below the fold. (Two is really best, though,
providing clear separation between the ads, giving both
ads some prominence, and still allowing plenty of space
for editorial to do its job.)
- Look for opportunities to
use sponsorship ads. A small logo with a tag-line, for
example, doesn’t use a lot of space
and can be an effective presence on a page.
- Try your hardest
not to interrupt the flow of editorial copy. Ads should
form a natural break between content elements.
- Make sure
your editorial has the ability to create a scaled delivery
that leads the eye from top stories and features of the
day and continues to draw the reader deeper down the
page without interruption. This assures that elements
on the lower part of the page will be viewed.
- Don’t
feel compelled to throw everything above the fold. People
scroll, particularly when the editorial leads them from
the top to the bottom of the page (as described in the
previous point).
- Likewise, don’t worry excessively about the depth
of the home page. Scrolling is more common than linking
to another page. (Also, lots of headlines on the home page
create lots of opportunities for readers to click into
the site.)
I hope you find these ideas helpful.
If there are other design topics you’d like us to
discuss, please drop us a line at info@richardsonfels.com.
— Theo
Fels
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