What does the future hold for the regional press? Something I’ve been thinking about lately and to be quite honest, I don’t have a clue. At times, you can live your life a little too much on the web and begin to believe the social media evangelists proclaiming that dead tree news is dead and buried. But then, take a step back from the laptop, work in a non-geek PR environment for a while and you’ll see a team of PR pros scoring print hits, writing magazine editorial and generally having fun; safe in the knowledge that newspapers are dropping through peoples’ letterboxes every day.
However, then take a look at how the nationals are changing their model. You’ve got the Guardian pioneering new grounds, the Times introducing a TV channel and heading off to the US and even the Sun (Britain’s largest newspaper) collaborating with MySpace (apparently). They’re predicting a change – a big change – so they’re acting accordingly.
But what will happen to the regional press? I don’t have the figures to hand, but I have read on a number of occasions that they’re selling less each year. What kind of business model will they have to introduce to keep afloat? Take a look at some regional newspaper websites – some have barely come to terms with RSS. So while the nationals begin to explore uncharted territory, the regionals continue to plod on.
Will they try new forms of media? Or indeed are any now? Will we see the introduction of advertising-laden free sheets as the paid for model becomes extinct? Or am I completely off the mark here?
You’ve also got to ask the question, if the regional newspapers are in demise, what does it mean for regional PR agencies? Will they have to introduce a new model also to justify their fees?
As the title demonstrates, this post is just a question really…well, reading it again, it’s quite a few questions. To reiterate, I’m not proclaiming the death of regionals, but I’d love to know other people’s opinions.
Technorati tags:
regional+newspapers, regional+newspaper, evolution
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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Piaras Kelly
It’s the complete opposite in Ireland, regional press continue to go from strengthen to strength. Regional media may eventually embrace the web to provide a more in depth service to the community, but nothing beats the local paper or radio station in terms of impact or reach.
Better yet landing in the regional paper gives you a better hit as most are weekly, hence it sits in most homes for thenext seven days until the next issue comes out.
I doubt if regionals will die off in the UK for the same reason they go from strength to strength in Ireland. News is more relevant and hence the audience has a stronger bond with the publication.
Stephen
Cheers Piaras,
As the post shows, I have no solid evidence that the regionals are going to disappear, and it’s good to know they’re doing well in Ireland.
I hope it’s the same over here.
Stuart Bruce, BMA PR
Bit busy at the moment with a new biz pitch but I have a half-written post on regional media that you’ve prompted me into trying to finish.
Richard Bailey
Local newspapers have been the surprise publishing success of the last decade: in part, because of news values (it’s what affects us most closely); in part because of the local monopoly on classified ads (what’s on, for sale etc). Of course, Craigslist promises to disrupt this business model, though the papers still retain a near monopoly on local news. It’s still too soon to write them off.
Stephen
Thanks Richard,
Do the regionals publish their year on year circulations? I wouldn’t mind having a read.
Heather Smith
Hi Steven,
I read your article with interest.
If you are after regional circulations you can get some idea from here
http://www.abc.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=nav/abc&c=0210880800422301541149861916021088
If you view the certificate for each paper, (you have to pay for historical data), you can see the circulations for the past 6 months.
As for my regionals, the Plymouth Evening Herald and the Western Morning News, circulation figures are fairly stable.
As mentioned previously, I think that people like to browse regional newspapers – the small ads, hatches matches and dispatches, that picture of little Johnny getting his prize etc.
I know that I’ll also take a quick look at The Independent online before deciding to buy it – but is that because I’m tight…..
Stephen
Hi Heather,
Thanks for that. I had a dig around for them on the ABC site a while ago. Obviously wasn’t looking hard enough. I still can’t find the recent circulations though. Am I having a dumb moment?
I think you have to be tight when you’re in study!
BTW Congrats on the Behind the Spin article.
Heather Smith
Hmmm well they aren’t that current I suppose, (Jan 2006). It looks like they are updated every six months.
I got the figures from ABC data, Options, Newspaper Data, Regional Paid Newspapers.
Thanks for your congratulations – you didn’t do so badly yourself! – well done!
Philip Young
Stephen
I added this to your comment on Stuart’s blog – and before reading Richard Bailey here…
A good starting point would be the Newspaper Society, http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk.
I think you will find that some smaller local papers are rather more vibrant than you might think. In the North East, for example, have a look at the Hexham Courant and the Teesdale Mercury, both rather traditional papers that are currently enjoying a new lease of life.
For insights into how traditional local papers can engage with new media tools, read this paper by Steffen Bueffel, University of Trier, Germany
presented at the EuroBlog2006 symposium in Stuttgart (it’s in English!) http://www.euroblog2006.org/symposium/program/assets/EuroBlog2006_Bueffel.pdf.
Stephen
Thanks Philip,
For some reason your comment got caught in my moderation cue.
About to read the German paper now.
Thanks again.
Richard Millington
A few ramblings on regional PR.
I work for a PR agency who operate primarily at a regional level in the UK. The power of the regional press, especially when it comes to tourism, is phenomenal. We find that a hit with regional press can be worth more than a hit with a national.
It can also be easier to develop contacts with regional press and they frequently come to us looking for news. Eventually if you make enough noise with these publications and radio stations you begin to work on some TV interest and then you build upon that to secure even more coverage in the future.
As for the future of this media? I think it’s safe, if not prosperous. They have almost a complete monopoly on the information of the local population and, as residents, aren’t usually too far away from the pulse. Besides, there’s not too many nationals where I could say “i’m going to give you information about this client every thursday, so please save space for it!”
Social media? When I began working here I asked a few publications if they took the time to read blogs or podcasts, none of them did, and many did not know what either was. So the social media concept will take some time (if at all) to spread here.