Media consumption up but newspaper circulation down

Posted by Alexandra Jaffe on April 19, 2010 at 6:41 PM

A recent survey from auditing giant KPMG reveals that media consumption is up--just not the kind of media needed to save traditional journalism.

According to the Guardian, the KPMG Media and Entertainment Barometer found that UK citizens were spending more time now than they were in September 2009 on a range of media, from television and newspapers to video games and video services.

Consumers are reading traditional media for 33 minutes more than the 11 hours and 40 minutes they spent in September, and spending 74 more minutes on digital media than the 6 hours and 14 minutes six months ago.

But still a larger group of respondents--43 percent--prefer reading their media offline to online, though a third reported that they had no preference. The issue, however, lies in consumers' reluctance to pay for their media: Now 21 percent of respondents get their print newspapers for free, compared to 15 percent six months ago; and generally, 88 percent of consumers get their news for free, up 4 percentage points since September.

And only 10 percent of consumers polled said they planned to subscribe to a newspaper within the coming year--bad news considering the circulation figures that were just released for the big UK dailies, which show double-digit declines almost across the board.

The Times and the Guardian saw a circulation decline of over 16 percent from last year, and half a percentage point decline in their monthly circulation figures. The Daily Telegraph and the Independent both show more than a 10 percent decline from last year, and the Financial Times has suffered a six percent decrease since last year, though all show a modest monthly increase that is somewhat heartening.

Clearly, the demand is there--but perhaps the supply of news media is too much. Until newspapers discover how to offer their readers unique, irreplaceable content, it seems that consumers will go elsewhere to fill their need for news.

Sources: The Guardian, paidContent