The decline in newspapers: MM case studies

The New Day 

1) What was the New Day trying to achieve?

The New Day was launched to tap into a new market, not specifically to pinch readers from other newspapers. 

Alison Phillips, the paper’s Editor, said:

There are many people who aren’t currently buying a newspaper, not because they have fallen out of love with newspapers as a format, but because what is currently available on the newsstand is not meeting their needs. This paper has been created as a result of customer insight and is the first newspaper designed for people’s modern lifestyles.

2) List the key statistics on the first page: how many people buy newspapers in the UK? How has this declined in the last year?

About six million people buy a newspaper in Britain every day. Over a million people have stopped buying a newspaper in the past two years

3) What audience were the New Day trying to attract?

The newspaper was targeted at women and men aged 35 to 55, people who want a more modern approach to news. They wanted it to be a ruthless edit of the day, with balanced analysis, opinion and comment, but no political line.

4) Why do you think the New Day failed so spectacularly? There are several possible reasons listed in the article but do develop your own opinion here as well.

Much of the content would seem to be aimed at twenty-somethings, or parents with young children. The majority of the articles seemed to target young women particularly, and the lack of space given to topics such as sport, coupled with the fact that sport was not positioned in its customary space on the back pages, meant that sports fans were not especially well catered for. 

I personally think that the New Day failed since newspapers are already in decline, audiences weren't going to be particularly intrigued and since they didn't stick to their initial aims they failed.

The Guardian

1) How many unique digital browsers used the Guardian website in June 2016? 

120 million monthly unique browsers and a June 2016 daily average of almost 9 million unique browsers, only about one third of whom are from the UK. 

2)What are The Guardian's latest print sales figures? How does this compare to the Telegraph? 

The print circulation of the Guardian was only 161,000 whereas The Daily Telegraph was 472,000.

3)In terms of finances, how much did the Guardian lose in 2015? 

£70 million.

4)What has been The Guardian's strategy for reversing this decline?

Cutbacks of 20% and shelving of plans for the Midland Goods Shed, a former train depot near GMG’s offices in King’s Cross, which it had planned to use as a public area for community gatherings and events.

5)What global event did The Guardian's digital coverage win awards for?

The Guardian’s reporting on the Paris attacks won praise not only from readers but from the Society of Editors. At their Press Awards for 2015, the Guardian was winner of the Website of the Year.

6)In your opinion, will the global website strategy be enough to save The Guardian?

The Guardian prides itself on providing online news content for free, and has so far resisted any temptation to install a ‘paywall.’ However, it does offer subscription services for those who want to download/read the print format online, and it offers a membership programme, which whilst offering some exclusive content and discounted access to events, is effectively a way of sponsoring the Guardian to remain editorially independent.