Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog - Industry Trends

SFN report: Most publishers enthusiastic for change

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:22:17 -0600

The first annual World Newspaper Future & Change Study is a global research study about newspaper publishers' business strategies moving forward for the next five years, with the key objective to inspire newspaper executives to invest and innovate their business units and business practices, according to the latest SFN's report, Charting the Course for Newspapers.

The purpose of the study is to pinpoint the business and strategic challenges of the world's newspapers, and then to identify the publishers' strategies moving forward to turn the challenges into opportunities.

SFN report: Netherlands and Sweden led in broadband revenue per capita in '07

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:17:50 -0600

According to IDATE and Ofcom, in 2002, Sweden and Canada led in broadband revenue per capita, with £27 and £26, respectively. The Netherlands and the United States came next with £19 and £14, respectively, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

In 2007, Netherlands rose to the first place with £75 in revenue per capita, beating Sweden's £65, Canada's £61, and the United States'53 percent.

SFN report: Materials, printing, administration, distribution and content generation most expensive costs to newspapers

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:42:02 -0600

The purpose of the study is to pinpoint the business and strategic challenges of the world's newspapers, and then to identify the publishers' strategies moving forward to turn the challenges into opportunities.

SFN report: 18.1 million or 10.8 percent of U.S. online users tweet in 2010

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:51:17 -0600

Twitter has gained enormous popularity globally since its launch in 2006. According to Alexa, Twitter was ranked 29th in terms of Web traffic. A compete.com blog entry in February 2009 ranked it as the third most used social network, with about six million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits. However, only about four out of 10 users are retained, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

Nielsen ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009, with a monthly growth of 1,382 percent, while Zimbio and Facebook followed with an increase of 240 percent and 228 percent, respectively.

SFN report: Profitability, streamlining & technology investments important for cost savings

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:31:04 -0600

Nielsen: Global time spent on social networking sites up 82 % year-over-year

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:10:31 -0600

In December 2009, an average user spent more than five and half hours on social networking sites, up 82 percent compared to the same period one year ago. The overall traffic to social media sites has also boosted since December 2007, Media Post reported.

Social networks and blogs topped as the most popular online category in terms of average time spent in December worldwide, followed by online games and instant messaging.

SFN report: 3G and above users takes off to reach 1 billion in '10

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:36:22 -0600

According to IDATE, worldwide 3G subscribers totalled 242 million at the end of 2007, while nearly half of them (47.6 percent) were from Asia. Another 29.8 percent came from Europe, while 17.8 percent were from North America. Only 4.9 percent came from rest of the world, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

In 2005, there were about two billion 2.5G and below subscriptions, while 3G and above subscriptions were only niche, according to iSuppli. 3G and above penetration then was less than 5 percent.

SFN report: Content on mobile devices greatest opportunity for publishers

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:54:04 -0600

SFN report: Facebook unique users in Europe reach 99.8 million in Feb. '09

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:27:45 -0600

Facebook is growing strong across Europe. The numbers of total unique visitors were 24.1 million in February 2008, and increased 314 percent to 99.8 million one year later, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported. It was also ranked as the top social networking site on the continent, according to comScore.

The United Kingdom contributed the most unique visitors compared to other countries, with 22.7 million in February 2009, up 75 percent year-over-year. France followed with 13.7 million, with an annual growth of 518 percent.

SFN report: U.S. online video marketing spending to reach $7.1 billion in '12

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:48:02 -0600

U.S. online video marketing spending totaled US$471 million in 2007, according to Forrester Research, Inc.

However, the spending is expected to skyrocket to more than $7.1 billion in 2012, with the majority of the spending coming from retail and wholesale trade, travel and hospitality, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

SFN report: Product development for new revenue most important for improvement and growth through investment

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:55:53 -0600

SFN report: Internet most influential, but TV most used in UK and Germany

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:30:13 -0600

The Internet tops the list of the most influential mediums, accounting for more than 40 percent of influence points in the United Kingdom and Germany, and 37 percent in France, according to the Digital Influence Index Study 2008 by Fleishman-Hillard Inc. and Harris Interactive.

TV is ranked next. Radio, newspaper and magazines lag behind with less than 20 percent of the points, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

Forrester: Interactive marketing will read $55 billion in 2014

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:09:57 -0600

Interactive marketing will reach about US$55 billion, or 21 percent of all marketing spend in 2014, according to Forrester's new study "U.S. Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2009 To 2014."

As marketing budgets are shuffled from traditional toward interactive media, such as search marketing, display advertising, e-mail marketing, social media and mobile marketing, the cannibalisation of traditional media will lead to "a decline in total advertising budgets, death to obsolete agencies, a publisher awakening, and a new identity for Yahoo!."

SFN report: Overall revenue suffered at global newspapers due to economy's impact

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:36:24 -0600

SFN report: U.S. newspaper site usage up

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:37:41 -0600

The usage of newspaper Web sites in the United States is rising, as those who never use the services dropped from 70 percent in 2003 to 62 percent in 2008, according to the Readership Institute.

The usage of newspaper Web sites "today" in the United States was up from 2 percent in 2003 to 5 percent in 2008, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.