News publishing - forecasts & survey
Jinfo Blog

5th December 2009

By Penny Crossland

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Two information industry reports have been published in recent weeks, on news providers and news preferences respectively, which make for interesting reading from a publisher’s and a user’s point of view. Outsell’s 2009 report on News Providers & Publishers (http://www.outsellinc.com/news_providers/products/888) makes for sobering reading for publishers. It paints a picture of a sector in decline and in a state of flux, confirming in many ways what VIP Livewire contributors have been reporting throughout the year. Outsell forecasts that news publishers will suffer a 19% revenue decline in 2009, (having already declined by 7.5% in 2008), forcing many of the major companies to restructure to cope with the effects of the recession. On the positive side, the report predicts the sector will grow modestly between 2010 and 2012, as the economy recovers and the advertising sector emerges from the doldrums. However, news publishers will only survive by developing new business models to confront news aggregators (see http://www.vivavip.com/go/e24652 , http://www.vivavip.com/go/e22457, http://www.vivavip.com/go/e22212 )and by entering into digital and technology partnerships (see http://www.vivavip.com/go/e26321) . This is confirmed by an article in yesterdays’ Wall Street Journal (as reported by Resourceshelf, http://www.resourceshelf.com), which reports that News Corp is planning to join a consortium of other publishers to create a digital store that will sell their titles on digital devices, such as e-readers. Outsell also forecasts that publishers will be engaging with readers more on a regional level (see http://www.vivavip.com/go/e25529), as well as making more use of user-generated content. The report also highlights how news publishers have had to respond to consumer demand by distributing news via new media, such as mobile, video and social networking sites – a trend set to continue. This is corroborated by VIP’s just-published report on News Needs and Preferences (http://web.vivavip.com/go/shop/report/1524), which shows that most respondents are interested in industry news, text-based news and company news and would like to be able to receive this type of content via mobile phone, PDA or Blackberry. Beleaguered news publishers can take some comfort from VIP’s report: 89% of respondents still subscribe to paid-for resources for news content, with around three-quarters of respondents subscribing to one of the ‘big two’, Dow Jones Factiva or Lexis Nexis (see Anne Jordan's comparative review). These databases are still seen as having superior and wide-ranging content, with good search facilities, and are therefore perceived to provide good value for money. However, information professionals are also increasingly looking for web versions of print products and are turning to independent professional blogs for news content. While quality content is king, managers of information and research centres are always mindful of costs, and this was considered the main factor in selecting news resources. Publishers of commercial news databases should take heed: The VIP audience is an influential group – a sizeable proportion of respondents are responsible for a premium content budget in excess of £1 million per year. More than 70% of those surveyed stated that the information centres within their organisations had primary responsibility for selecting and managing content, with more than 40% of those making purchasing decisions.

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