It's always kind of fun when some disruptive news drops that
shakes up the "print is dying" narrative. This week, it was a
research report from McKinsey and Company, which found that in terms of time
spent, digital products (tablets, smartphones and computers) make up only 8
percent of news consumption. As reported by Rick Edmonds in Poynter, 35 percent of time
spent with news still belongs to newspapers and magazines, 16 percent to radio
and 41 percent to TV. Smartphones and tablets together account for 4 percent of
time spent, and computers, an additional 4 percent. This seems shocking, but the first thing to remember is this
measures time spent with platforms, not the raw numbers of people using them.
Also, when total media usage is measured (not just news consumption), digital
platforms grab more than half of total time spent. Paid Content's Matt Ingram
sets up a bit of a straw man in cautioning "publishers who might see this
as reason for unbridled optimism" (is there a news publisher alive who is
feeling "unbridled optimism" about print?), going on to note that
large numbers of consumers prefer to get their news in short bursts. Besides,
he says, most advertisers are not looking to specifically target news
consumers. While advertisers might not target news consumers, they do
presumably love "lean back" readers, who are more likely to take the
time to notice their advertising. News browsing via Twitter and Flipboard does
not lend itself to noticing, reading and clicking through ads. So this report does provide a bit of manna for publishers
looking to convince advertisers that's it's too early to abandon print. Heck,
we may even be entering an era where print stabilizes and TV becomes the new
whipping boy for disruptive doomsayers. Time will tell.
