Pew report on state of American news media
Jinfo Blog

By Nancy Davis Kho

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A study released yesterday by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism on the state of American news media starts on a happy note, pointing out that after two trying years, revenue in the news sector overall is starting to recover, in part due to the government bailout of the auto industry which boosted manufacturer's abilities to do ad buys, and in part to traction with new revenue models.

But the longer term implications for news organisations are still shrouded in doubt, with the study pointing out that increasingly, aggregators and delivery channel players are the ones providing solutions for changing consumer expectations of how they receive news - meaning that these third party companies  are the ones who increasingly "own" the customer data, putting distance between the reader and the publisher.

Another onerous trend uncovered in the report is the fact that "For the first time, too, more people said they got news from the web than newspapers," which ties into the finding that 2010 spending on online ad revenue is expected to surpass that of print newspaper ad revenue for the first time. Whereas print newspaper ad revenue goes largely to the publisher, online revenue tends to be shared. When Google is serving up ads on a media website and publishers must pay 30% of subscription revenues to Apple for purchases made in the Apple Store, the size of the pie may be stabilizing, but there are a lot more players clamoring for a slice.

While paid online content models for the FT, WSJ, and Bloomberg.com are cited as successful, the report also underlines the fact that those models may not work for less specialized publishers. One glimmer of hope for publishers' revenue streams: hyperlocal advertising, which now accounts for 40% of all online ad spending.

Finally, the impact of mobile is yet to be fully appreciated. The study finds that 47% of Americans now say they get some kind of local news on mobile devices such as cellphones or other wireless  like tablet computers.  As of January 2011, just 7% of Americans owned electronic tablets but that figure had doubled in only four months.

The full report, which is overflowing with juicy news on the state of American news and its consumption, can be viewed here.

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