There are some really interesting results in the World Editors Forum/Reuters Newsroom Barometer report, released late yesterday. Zogby International conducted the survey. Here are a few of the results, with comments:
56 percent believe most news will be free in the future, up from 48 percent in 2006. This is good for democracy, giving more people access to more information, and maybe good for advertising, since more people may see advertising if the content around it is free. However, print circulation revenue does contribute a bit to most news companies’ bottom lines, so we’ll have to see how the numbers play out.
63 percent believe within 10 years, the most common form of news consumption will be electronic (online, mobile or e-book-style readers). This one is also mixed: Good for the environment (less paper), but we all know quite well that online CPMs and print advertising rates are very different. Even The New York Times Assistant Managing Editor said this week in an online chat that NYTimes.com revenues would not support the entire newsroom.
86 percent said an integrated print/online newsroom will be the norm in the near future. It’s good that news organizations are realizing this – integration, cross-platform collaboration and more will make the end product better, both in revenue and audience. However, as the report notes, many newspapers have bridges to cross before they get to that point.
According to the John Zogby’s analysis of the report, “For these editors the future is self-evident and our survey shows that they see the writing on the newsroom wall. The evolution of the 4th Estate is no longer questions of if, when or how. Editors now know the solution: Innovate. Integrate. Or perish.”