Newspapers losing ground to digital media

Nowadays, everyone has the opportunity to read the news anywhere and anytime in the world. This is partly made possible by the internet that people use. However, there is a downside to this, because it has a negative effect on many newspapers. Digital media is becoming increasingly popular and the popularity of newspapers is declining.

Digitalisation

Nowadays (almost) everything is digitising. One of the reasons for this is that it is a lot easier to have everything in one place online than physically in your own hand. It is a point of ease of use that makes the newspaper disappear more often and people look for the news on the internet. It is very easy to pick up the phone and check the news when you are waiting for the bus. You don't have a newspaper in your pocket when you need it.

To keep up with the digitisation, most newspapers have started to digitise as well. Many newspapers make it possible to read the familiar newspaper, but then digitally. This often involves costs through a subscription, but with the larger newspapers around the world this has had a major impact.

Because the newspaper is nowadays hardly bought physically, it is difficult for small newspapers to exist. Therefore, they usually switch to publishing digital newspapers.

Specialists indicate that in a few years time there will be no room left for physical newspapers. This means that only the larger newspapers will be published physically. As small newspapers are hardly sold, these will also be phased out slowly but surely.

From paper to digital

Many newspapers are moving more and more to the digital version due to the age of digitalisation. However, due to a lack of subscribers it is not yet possible to switch over completely to digital. It has become a generation point, because especially older people still subscribe to the physical newspaper and often have the misfortune of not being able to cope with the technology of a computer, laptop or smartphone. Specialists expect that this will also decrease in the coming years.

The newspapers that now mainly operate online have a very good chance of still existing in a few years' time. Many people still have the need for daily news and want to keep abreast of what is going on in the world.

For some newspapers it is still difficult to switch to the digital medium. There is often more to it than meets the eye. There are different conditions for digital media compared to a normal newspaper. To publish a newspaper, you need a press to print it. Publishing a digital newspaper, however, involves more problems. It can sometimes take a lot of time to sort these problems out.

First of all, it is important to have a well-constructed website. As a newspaper, you want to be findable. For this it is useful to have specialists who know about it. Without these specialists you can run into extra problems.

The website for a newspaper

The physical newspaper often runs into the big problem that it needs a website. The first step is to find someone who can help them with this. A well-functioning website is not something that can be created overnight. The stumbling block can be finding a specialist for this. One wants a specialist who is available for the newspaper for a longer period of time. Apart from creating a website, it is also important that the newspaper can be found well. So there is more to it than just creating a website. You will also have to think about SEO and online marketing, because without these two facets, you will not be found in the best possible way.

There are many problems that newspapers come up against when it comes to digitalisation. A lot of preparation goes into the websites of newspapers. This has ensured that everything works and that there are no problems for the users. To ensure that this is the case, work is constantly being done to improve the website. Nowadays, the largest cranes have switched to digital, which means that there is also a kind of digital battle between the newspapers. This was already the case physically, but also digitally and the competition on the internet is even more difficult than the competition with physical newspapers. This is because there is also more small digital media that can cause problems here.

To prevent newspapers from being influenced by this battle, it is also important to have a strategy to attract as many visitors as possible yourself. This tactic can be difficult to develop if you do not have sufficient knowledge of it, many newspapers struggle with this.

Switching to a digital subscription

Most newspapers nowadays are fully dedicated to the digital age. This makes newspapers want as many subscribers as possible to switch to a digital subscription.

Because of the large number of subscriptions, the amount of printing is reduced by 5% each year. As a result, less and less paper is wasted, which is another positive point for the environment.

Digital media

Nowadays, digital media are popping up more and more. This is actually exactly the same as the newspaper, but everything is placed digitally. Compared to newspapers, digital media is gaining ground.

In order to prevent newspapers from covering less and less ground, most newspapers choose to become digital themselves. Because of this, most articles that appear in the physical newspaper are also placed digitally. However, there is usually a difference between the digital newspaper and digital media.

For users, it is free to make use of digital media. These are small online newspapers that do not have subscription fees. The digital newspaper often still uses a subscription. This is the way they make money.

In order to ensure that subscribers pay money for the articles they provide, many large newspapers chose to make articles on the internet free for a while. This has made many people dependent on the articles and eager to read them. Large newspapers such as the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant have made use of this.

Compulsory collaboration with social media

Most newspapers like to keep it physical. However, because of the digital age, newspapers are forced to cooperate with social media. For newspapers this is a kind of necessary evil.

Social media causes newspapers to lose ground. However, it also provides them with new users. The disadvantage of social media for newspapers is that they cannot determine their own conditions. Everything nowadays is based on the conditions of the social media. The umbrella media for this is Google. Google is the company that owns most of the social media.

Because Google can influence so much, the freedom of the press is less present on the internet than in a physical newspaper. This is because the social media themselves can decide to remove an article from their platform. If the article does not meet the conditions of the social media, it can be removed again.