The Decline in newspaper: MM and case study

MM 57 Case Study

1) What was the New Day trying to achieve?

 The new day newspaper was designed to help the decline of traditional media print and target a new audience which is more traditional by appealing to them. It was a modern day newspaper but wasn't there to replace the traditional print media that we have.The New Day aimed to reach a different audience, they didn't want to take readers from other news businesses, but to establish a new audience; a new market. They wanted to create a newspaper that would tap in to peoples modern lifestyles, which was something that other newspapers were't doing. They have stated that the decline of readers over the last two years can begin to slow down, as the 'right' product will be given to them. The New Day will use no political line which the other newspapers are very much known for. As well as, giving news on any given day.

2) List the key statistics on the first page: how many people buy newspapers in the UK? How has this declined in the last year?

Roughly about 6 million people buy the newspaper a day and there's been a decline in the amount of people that buy the newspaper over the last two years by over a million.

3) What audience were the New Day trying to attract?

They were trying to attract an equal split of males and females around the ages of 35-55 who are now accustomed to a new modern lifestyle rather than and older traditional one however the majority of the stories they published carried connotations and tones of a much different audience. It didn't keep the promise of a male and female split, rather having stories for one particular gender compared to the other. 

5) Why do you think the New Day failed so spectacularly? There are several possible reasons listed in the article but do develop your own opinion here as well.

One of the reasons that is suggested in the article is the price increase from 25p to 50p and i think this was the main reason that they failed. People who are modern and want to live that lifestyle are already keeping up with the latest technology and with everything becoming free the need for paying for something they can already get is a waste of money. I also think that people would want more content in a shorter space of time and with everything being accessible online it is easier to do this from their phone. The planned to target ages 35-55, however the stories they were printing were more to do with youth culture or young mom's, making its demographic fall out of place. Finally, the stores seemed to attract more of a female audience as there was no mention of sports or any male content that fitted their target of having an equal gender audience base,

The Guardian

1) List the key statistics on page 10: How many unique digital browsers used the Guardian website in June 2016? What are The Guardian's latest print sales figures? How does this compare to the Telegraph? In terms of finances, how much did the Guardian lose in 2015? 

• The Guardian online is the third most read paper on the internet, with over 120 million monthly unique browsers
• In 2015 the Guardian lost £70 million this led to cutbacks of 20% 
• Sales of newspapers have been in steady decline since the explosive growth of the internet in the 1990s
• print circulation of the Guardian was only 161,000.

2) What has been The Guardian's strategy for reversing this decline?

They are relying on people to invest into their business and there were no cutbacks in USA and Australia which kept them going.The Guardian didn't apply the cut backs for Australia and the USA because it had a 'backbone' of the ability for the Guardian to bid news for a global audience.

3) What global event did The Guardian's digital coverage win awards for?

It received awards for the attacks that took place in Paris because it was a way for people to keep updated which helped them survive and allowed them to go towards safety as there was regular updates to help them. People who were caught up in the middle of the attacks, used the Guardian's online site as a way of safety and followed the updates put on their site. 

4) In your opinion, will the global website strategy be enough to save The Guardian?

I believe so. This is because since the Paris attacks it has delivered a powerful message to consumers of the significance for news. People were using a platform that they never quote actually use on a daily basis, and after the attacks, they see truly how powerful and important the newspaper industry is. Therefore, people would have built some loyalty towards The Guardian due to all it has done tin terms of providing intel on the Paris attacks.