Succeeding Today

The Death of Newspapers & The Rise of Content Marketing

Newspapers are toast according to Paul Gillin, a veteran tech journalist.

Gillin provides a thoughtful analysis of the economic and demographic trends that are dooming the newspaper industry as we know it today. He notes that they have an unsustainable cost structure which forces them to charge exorbitant advertising rates. What’s worse is that rates keep going up, while readership declines.

In our own SW Florida market, we have two newspapers with an oligopoly on the market. They have an anti-business slant even though they live on the dollars of the local business community. Between them they are raking in hundreds of millions of advertising dollars–and are still incredibly profitable. But, Gillin believes this will soon change.

Gillin states:

This will be nothing less than a complete rebirth of journalism around the concept that information is plentiful and cheap. Instead of 1,500 print newspapers, there will be perhaps five to 10 national “super-papers” and many thousands of regional and special interest community news sites. The process of getting there will be wrenching and controversial, but the new model will create a more dynamic and diverse information landscape than we have ever known. It will be incredibly exciting. I hope to be around for the ride.

The incredible content marketing opportunity lies in the ‘thousands of regional and special interest community news sites’ that Gillin predicts. A local auto dealer could create a local car enthusiast site. A developer could fund a lifestyle site. A restaurant group could become the local gourmet food destination site.

Hang on, it’s going to be a bumpy slide! Read Gillin’s full article