SFN report: Most publishers enthusiastic for change

Posted by Erina Lin on February 8, 2010 at 4:22 PM

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.

It has been said that the only reason we change the way we do things is because we change the way we look at things. And it's clear from an analysis of responses to the open-ended question, "What is the single most important change that has to be implemented in your newspaper over the next year?" that the majority of news organisations are taking a fresh look at the way things have been done and planning to make significant changes in the year ahead.

- Enthusiasm for Change

One of the key challenges in changing strategies from a "business as usual" newspaper company to a dynamic company that is developing new revenue-making strategies for now and the future, is managing the changes in the organisation and amongst the employees.

When asked to what extent they agree with the statement, "There is an urgency felt throughout the organisation that our business needs to change," about a third of respondents (32 percent) agreed "strongly," while almost 40 percent "somewhat agreed" that this was the case.

On the other hand, 28.4 percent of the respondents were "neutral" (13.1 percent) or disagreed "somewhat" (9.0 percent) or "strongly" (6.3 percent) that such a consensus existed in their organisations.

- Changing Revenue Models

The search for new revenue sources is not only necessary, it's already well under way.

More than three-quarters (77.5 percent) of respondents agreed "strongly" (49.4 percent) or "somewhat" (28.1 percent) that their organisations were already "constantly looking for income streams beyond in the habit of looking out for new ways to make money beyond historical sources of revenue like circulation, display advertising and classified advertising."

- Changing Cultures

Organisational cultures that routinely encourage such innovative thinking were the exception, not yet the norm.

All respondents said they were less confident that their people were routinely encouraged to look beyond the boundaries of their traditional revenue streams.

The report, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, details the results of the Future & Change Study, completed in partnership with the Norwegian School of Management and the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom, which shows a majority of the 653 respondents around the world are looking to businesses outside the printed newspaper in order to grow revenues and revamp structures along the value chain that are no longer functioning at full throttle.