In the face of Canada's biggest decline in advertising sales, layoffs, outsourcing and payment walls are driving --
Circulation newspapers reflect the latest strategies for publishers to survive in the predicted industry turmoil that could cause some newspapers to close and others to flourish.
After a particularly turbulent decade in the newspapers, 2013 may prove to be the breakthrough point for some Canadian businesses that are scrambling to find new ones as traditional print ads dry up
The decline of newspapers is old news.
Many Canadian news operations have been slammed by the same forces that led to the bloodshed in the United States. S.
The newsroom has gone through several rounds of acquisitions and layoffs that have dried up the newsroom and journalists have condemned the quality of the decline.
But at a time when the market is down, new glimmer of hope is emerging-there are signs that readers may end up paying for online content.
By the end of this year, most of Canada's daily newspapers are expected to begin the Great Wall pay wall experiment.
Most people choose a measurement mode with a smaller limit, which allows non-
Paid readers have limited monthly free articles and some access via social media or search engines. Torstar Corp.
On Wednesday, the company said it was counting on the Toronto Star's upcoming digital pay wall to offset the shrinking print advertising revenue. In the first three months of 2013, print advertising revenue fell by 16 percentage points to nearly $11. million.
The parent company of the Toronto Star and other daily newspapers first reported-
Quarterly profits fell 76 to $4.
Compared with the same period last year, 2 million.
Same day, Quebec company
The company said operating income for its Sun Media chain newspaper had fallen 64 percentage points to $5.
This quarter was 7 million.
Both companies said they failed to cut costs quickly enough to offset the slump in advertising sales.
The Toronto Star reiterated that it will fire 55 editors and advertising staff and outsource the editing work to the newly started Pagemasters in North America --
Edit and page
The design store, whose employees earn about half of the Star editor's income.
The star rejected the union's proposal to leave the work at home.
Layoffs are part of the industry.
In the past six months, the pace of big budget cuts seems to have reached fever.
Post Media Network
After announcing the frustrating first acquisition, regional publishers were canceled and West Coast employees were asked to accept the acquisition last month
Including quarterly results of 10 per cent of revenue decline.
At the end of last year, Sun Media announced about 500 job cuts.
Even the Globe and Mail-arguably the best example of a well-functioning pay wall in Canada-has recently offered acquisitions to editors. (
The Huffington Post Canada edition, which does not have a pay wall, uses the newspapers mentioned in the report to compete for digital advertising and viewers. )
Toronto Star publisher John crookshenk believes
Layoffs will continue as news agencies transition to online subscriptions.
News veterans predict that some Canadian daily newspapers will not survive the transition.
However, he is optimistic about the emergence of the new model.
"We are working on it, and I think we can find a place to continue to have professional journalists and use blogs," he said in an interview with The Huffington Post in Canada.
For decades, newspapers have relied on 80-
There are 20 business models in which revenue comes from print advertising, including classified advertising, and the rest is made up of subscription revenue.
The Internet upended the strategy, with readers turning to free Internet news sources, and advertisers paying a fraction of the cost of printing activities.
As Canadian newspapers recognize that what their business model is going through is not a temporary shift in the recession, but a permanent structural change, publishers are moving towards a more streamlined organization.
The Vancouver Sun and the province's publishers said in a bluntly worded memo last month that the existing business model will not be sustainable unless drastic measures are taken.
"In the past few years, revenue from the Vancouver Sun and the province has dropped dramatically, with most of it coming from traditional print advertising," said Gordon Fisher's memo . ".
"Our digital revenue has grown over the same period, but it is not enough to close the gap.
This trend has not weakened.
It is accelerating.
Universal Mail publisher Philip Crawley said the newspaper had registered about 90,000 digital users in the first six months of operating the metering toll Wall (
He won't say how many of them are existing print subscribers).
He added that despite this, publishers still feel pressure to cut spending in the face of the economic downturn and growing interest from advertisers in online.
"Obviously we're stuck in the same pattern as everyone else, and I don't think anyone is telling a different story. . . .
This is a case of how you monetize the digital side.
The newspaper was anxiously watching the positive trends reported by The New York Times twice.
Despite a decline in user growth in the most recent quarter, more than 700,000 readers have opened wallets in this year's pay wall experiment. The U. S.
Last year, the newspaper's circulation revenue grew by 5 percentage points, the first annual increase since 2003, in part because of the widespread adoption of the pay wall.
Canadian publishers believe it is time to take the paywall plunge.
"We didn't do much to train people to think that everything on the internet wouldn't be free, but since then we 've seen a lot of digital commerce going forward," says krucshenk.
"It's a fast, fast transition, and now people are taking the view that this information has some value and needs to be paid.
I think some people will be willing to pay some price. I think this number will continue to grow.
The toll walls are not going to save the press, but they do represent the next step in recovery, Mr. klukshenk said.
"In order to maintain a huge commitment to the newsroom," he said, "We have to pay for content, which is the next development point of the business model.
Not perfect?
In fact, they are limited in some ways.
"Obviously, we will not achieve the same business results in the digital space as we have done in the print space over the years-not by paying walls and digital display ads-so we have to think very much about serving readers and advertisers and looking for new ones other ways of financing sources.
"The newspaper has recently accelerated the pace of layoffs and the creation of a toll wall," said Paul Morse, chairman of the Southern Ontario News Media Association, which represents Toronto star employees, The Globe and Mail and The Sun.
"They used to pay a price for turning a blind eye and now people are in a hurry to deliver new models," he said . ".
"The pay wall will generate revenue, and that's the pay for the job, so obviously it's the way they have to go," he said, adding that, they will only work if the newsroom is willing to invest in the quality of the products behind them.
Some critics believe that hiding some content may lose the website traffic of readers who are unwilling to pay, or it may lose advertising revenue to marketers who flock to the website.
The results of Canadian newspapers that have lagged behind the metering toll Wall show that while readers still visit the toll Wall websites, they spend less time on them and fewer stories clicking through, reduce the likelihood that they will watch a lot of ads.
An analysis of four newspapers-one from major Canadian publishers-has fallen behind the charging standards over the past year-found that on average, unique visitors have increased by 4 percentage points per year --over-
According to data from digital analytics firm comScore, all four papers fell behind the pay wall in the first few months of 2013.
But when none of these newspapers became the content of the pay wall compared to 2012, the total number of views dropped by an average of 43. ComScore data showed that the average number of minutes per visitor dropped by 40, and the average number of pages per visitor decreased by 43.
Pay Wall can close search for high advertisers
High efficiency-
Chris Davis, senior vice president, said the number of their advertising expenses
President of Customer Service at Media Experts, a Canadian Media planning and purchasing company.
"Some of the sites that are leading in the pay wall area and are doing pretty well have to cut a little bit of spending because it's a challenge," he said, "there's so much free content out there . ".
Newspapers that build pay walls but lack high engagement or reader loyalty may see an increase in limited reader income that is willing to pay, but they also risk closing readers and advertisers, he said.
"They will lose the ability to monetize the audience-if they lose a third audience, they will lose the income [from the other side [the paywall]. ” Post-
Advertising budget has rebounded but costs
Conscious marketers still prefer spending online, where they will see the biggest appeal, accountability and return on investment, Davis said.
Advertisers prefer online advertising not only because it's cheaper, but because they can see when, where and how many people click on their ads.
He added that those who want to attract as many viewers as possible have more options than ever before, including alternative news sites, search engines, or social media sites.
But other advertisers, like Crawley said the world is attracting advertisers, are willing to pay the highest dollar for access to a highly engaged, higher-value audience that meets their target population.
Crawley has nothing to do with traffic numbers.
He said the paper's pay wall is designed to provide paying users with quality content that is not available to free news sources, and advertisers are willing to pay to target such audiences.
The Globe and Mail has set up an inter-departmental committee of editors and non-editors
Monitor what content hits the best editors 24 hours a day.
Research has made people willing to give paper information on how to increase the volume of traffic through the content of the pay wall, while analyzing which stories stimulate the maximum traffic and help attract advertisers to find the target audience, Crowley said.
He said that "absolutely nothing" around the world saw advertising revenue decline, citing the growth in digital advertising revenue this year.
He will not give figures on print advertising revenue, the segment that his competitors are most worried about.
Globe and Mail are privately owned, so there is no need to post financial information.
Other newspapers have also reported growth in digital advertising sales, but since digital advertising revenue currently accounts for only 10 per cent of overall advertising revenue, the impact of growth in the sector has contributed little to the company's profits.
Wayne Parrish, chief operating officer of the post-Media, said, including citizens of Ottawa and the Vancouver Sun, the chain's paid newspapers are growing at a level of digital advertising revenue with newspapers that offer unlimited free access, such as National Post.
In the coming weeks, the company will put the rest of the documents behind the pay wall.
Postmedia's goal is to have 75,000 digital users, including those with print subscriptions (
This is also a measure of global use, he said)by September.
The chain Journal's user growth will be harder than the Wall Street Journal and other small newspapers or flagship newspapers such as the New York Times, but Parrish believes that, plans for post-Media Investment content will help convince readers to make changes.
"We believe that Metro newspapers will certainly have a chance if there is high quality content.
"Unlike some of its peers, global creation of paid content sits behind the wall before the wall is erected, which makes it different from Canadian competitors," Crowley said.
"If you're going to get a full picture of what's going on with the toll wall, you have to sort out the wheat from the grain shell," he said . ". “All (Postmedia is)
All it does is build a payment wall just to get some cash;
Sun Media did the same thing.
"Sun Media cannot be reached for an interview with the story.
The pay wall for newspapers is still in its early stages.
Even successful newspapers have to focus on cutting costs until their business model develops to the level that allows for healthy investment in the news business, says kukshenk.
Parrish has no false hope of paying walls enough to save the broken business model of the industry.
"The pay walls are not a panacea in any form or form, but they have the potential to be part of the overall revenue solution, which I stress is potential.
"Adam Shine, media analyst at the National Bank, believes that the next few months will help better paint the feasibility of the Canadian newspaper toll wall.
"The sustainability of the pay wall and the willingness of consumers to pay for the newspaper will continue to depend on the quality of the content," said Shine . ".
Paying walls are not the only innovative business model for Canadian newspapers, he added, noting that La Presse decided to use design to counter the trend of paying walls
Conscious advertising
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"Publishers have taken an alternative route that seems destined to reduce print subscriptions," he said of the Montreal newspaper . ".
As newspapers take tentative steps towards the next goal
Revenue model, publishers face
Davis said they are cutting back on the traditional cost of the newsroom.
He said that there is a need to invest in journalists, investigative resources and the International Bureau to produce high-quality content that attracts advertisers, and while cutting significantly at the cost of quality, there is little difference between newspapers and free news sources.