AP and Reuters Both Say It’s the Internet For News. Where Does That Leave Traditional Media?

Philip Stone November 15, 2004

The two Toms leading the world’s two largest news agencies – Glocer at Reuters and Curley at Associated Press (AP) – are agreed upon the future of news, or more specifically where the majority of news junkies will go for their news. The Internet.

Tom Glocer has already announced Reuters Media is going after the consumer market directly via the Internet. Now Curley has told the Online News Association that as newspaper circulation declines and viewers dessert TV news programs, it is the Internet where people are going in ever growing numbers for their daily news fix.

Since the AP is a newspaper cooperative and its owners don’t take kindly with the AP competing with their own web sites and going directly to the consumer, the AP’s job is to help its members make their web sites (and their newspapers) as profitable as possible. The AP, therefore, is providing its bureaus with cameras so they can provide multimedia coverage and also the AP is increasing news of particular interest to the young, Curley said. But making money from news on the web is not easy – most news is available for free.

Curley cited one study that said some 43 million people go online for news at least three times a week. That study coincided with one by the European Internet Advertising Association (EIAA) that claims Europeans spend five hours a week reading newspapers but are online 11 hours a week.  And it is not just newspapers losing readership. The survey says one-third of Europeans claim they are watching less television and spending more time on the web.

Coinciding with the Internet’s increased use, European online advertising has soared this year with the UK leading the way, France and Germany also doing well. In the UK, for instance, the first half of the year saw revenues of GBP267 million, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, representing 3.24% of total ad spending. Radio advertising accounts for 3.7% of the total advertising spend and it is possible online, having already surpassed movie theater advertising, may surpass radio by the end of the year.

Most traditional media entities have their own web sites, but most are not experiencing an Internet boom because they don’t use all the multimedia tricks available to attract the young. If the young find they cannot relate to their daily newspaper then why should they relate to their newspaper’s web site?

Those media that figure out that answer and act accordingly will be uncorking the champagne bottles!