The following article first appeared on Starcom’s blog.
After much speculation, the popular sports show ‘Off the Ball’ will soon be returning to the airwaves. However, the famous five will make their return in a somewhat different broadcasting format than expected; they will form a partnership with The Irish Times.
The partnership highlights the fact that newspapers are no longer as we know them. Although many reports predict the demise of newspapers, this is not the case. Newspapers are simply changing from the former print version into various different formats and offering consumers valuable content in new innovative ways. This was touched on in our 2013 outlook document, where we refer to newspapers as news media, recognising the ever changing face of the paper. But what does this mean?
Newspapers are increasingly under pressure from their two revenue streams as circulation continues to fall, and so does advertising. The changing nature of newspapers as they adapt to the digital environment means they are constantly trying to diversify their online offering. The Irish Times new partnership is the perfect example of how a news media organisation can boost its online engagement and ultimately create valuable content.
The Irish Independent has already signed a partnership, where they broadcast footage from RTE. As technology improves, this broadcasting will become more common. Fionann Sheehan said recently in a talk that he ultimately wants to be able to film and edit coverage as it happens. This isn’t journalism and newspapers as we know it.
All this brings us back to what news media must do. They must create content worth paying for, beyond their current offering. We can already see popular news titles, such as The New York Times, in other countries having success through online pay structures, essentially valuing their own content. Ireland will soon be following in their footsteps. Creating these new and innovative online offerings gives scope for the introduction of future paywall structures.
Looking at The Irish Times partnership with Off the Ball team, we can see just how much this could potentially benefit the title. Off The Ball brought an average of 43,000 listeners per show, with 11,000 of these being in the 15-34 year old age demographic- an audience The Irish Times and most newspapers struggle to capture. The partnership also gains the title extended reach outside of the Dublin area, where over half of their readers are based. 11,000 Off The Ball listeners come from rural areas and 14,000 come from outside of Leinster.
The audience profile of The IrishTimes.com is somewhat different than the audience profile of the printed version with 46% of users falling into the 15-34 age bracket, compared to 24% of the printed versions readers. Could this mean that these younger audiences may start to read the printed version as well? Could the online readers be converted to print readers? We don’t know yet, but it is something we have seen before – The New York Times increased readership of their print version after the introduction of their paywall on their online site. Only time will tell what the partnership will bring for the Irish Times but we believe the key to news media is exactly this creating unique and engaging content to bring new audiences and extend their reach. Ultimately though they need to attribute a value to their platforms… good news doesn’t come for free.
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