One thing that puts Vocus ahead of the game is our large media research team. They’re the experts who build and maintain our industry-leading media database of journalists, outlets and opportunities. As well as this, they also publish our annual State of the Media report, an in-depth look at the statistics, trends and developments that shape the media industry. This month, they released their six-month Q2 Update. Here’s a look at the highlights and what they mean.
- 91 newspaper outlets launched in the second quarter: 43 were AOL’s Patch websites and 33 were Main Street Connect hyperlocal sites—only two were daily print newspapers.
- Four major bureaus closed this quarter, the most significant being the Des Moines Register’s Washington, D.C. bureau.
- Almost all top-tier newspapers are now on Twitter and Facebook – perhaps in the hopes that their newspaper, rather than a local website or blog, will be top-of-mind the next time a story breaks.
- Only 26 magazines folded in the second quarter of this year as compared to 41 folds in the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, 27 print magazines launched this past quarter.
- Several magazines have strong enough brand identities to leveraging their name in other areas, including product sales and apps. Newsweek, Dwell and Slate all have new purchasable apps, while The Economist, The Week and Popular Science are allowing their apps to be downloaded for free.
- Television is leading the social media race, with all major markets now having at least a Facebook page, Twitter handle or both for all their local networks. Giving their viewers a platform and a voice is even more important now that most 30-minute newscasts spend less than a third of their time delivering local news.
- Radio audiences are on the increase, with more than 1.9m listeners joining the listening groups of American Urban Radio Networks this year, says Arbitron.
So what does it all mean?
“Now that the media has gotten through the second quarter,” says Rebecca Bredholt, head of the Magazine Research Team, “it still doesn’t look like there’s any evidence of a winning strategy for all traditional mediums. Many outlets are taking experimentation into their own hands, trying out new things and new ways of distributing their content. For some, like those in Internet radio, it’s working extremely well. For others, like TBD.com, which tried to put TV news resources onto the Web first, it’s not working out at all.
Looking ahead, we’re keeping an eye on the number of iPhone- and iPad-like devices as they provide a vehicle to supply individuals with all five forms of content (radio, television, social media, magazines, and newspapers) on demand. With audiences given more freedom to pick and choose content, the era of “mass” media may be reaching its end.”
You can read the full report at inVocus, the online media center for news researched and written by the Media Research Team.
