Say NO to newsprint - Say YES to newspapers
I recently read Guardian’s Roy Greenslade’s blog, “Face up to reality - newsprint is dying so join the race to an online future.” When you read his posting, you’ll see there is a lot of doom and gloom from the “facts” he quotes, mostly about the decline of share values of newspapers in Britain and Europe.
But, notice he doesn’t say, newspapers are dying – it’s the newsprint he’s against. Just like our “Say No to Newsprint” campaign we launched two weeks ago. Don’t misunderstand…we’re huge fans of newspapers at ND Digital – we just want to see them thrive in their transition from print to digital (which is inevitable as Greenslade projects).
So although it’s not a pretty picture he’s painting, he does leave us with some hope…IF publishers are willing to take action and take it fast!
Thankfully many publishers do understand that generating new online revenue streams is critical to their future. But unfortunately, many just don’t know how to do it. Thank goodness, some do…
Take, for example, CanWest Media Works Publications Inc. – with 10 daily newspapers across Canada and a national publication, National Post. CanWest recently launched new advertising options for their 11 SmartEditions which uses NewspaperDirect’s Adget technology.
In NAA PressTime’s February 2008 article “Using E-Editions to Enhance Ads” CanWest’s Senior Vice President of Publications Sales and Marketing, Kirk Allen was quoted as saying that CanWest has received high interest from advertisers for their new advertising options. Now their local advertisers can embed video and other transactional elements into their advertisements, bringing their “ads to life”.
It is not surprising that CanWest is pursuing new advertising models in its digital editions. According to Allen, the subscriber base for its e-editions increased dramatically from 15,000 customers in December 2006 to 207,000 in Dec 2007. Wow! With growth like that, no wonder CanWest is looking for new more progressive advertising models for its online newspapers.
Gayle
