There are some big numbers floating out there regarding readership numbers in print.
We spend 7% of our time on print and yet, as a country, we spend 25% of our ad budgets in print. Why is that?
1) Overall, print readership is down 1.7% in the last six months.
Digital edition magazine readership is up 24% during the same period.
2) Print readership is predicted to fall by 25% by 2020.
Some have even linked the end of our political way of life to the steady decline of newspaper readership.
Think Again: The End of Newspapers and the Decline of Democracy
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/ta_032212.html
Some other good (online) reading about the state of print:
http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/
Fete it be…
Jay Spivey – Publisher – Fete
Bloomsbury Press publisher and editorial director Peter Ginna (pronounced “gi-NAY”) predicted during a 2010 interview with Warren Olney that paperback books, made obsolete by e-readers, soon will disappear from bookstore shelves.
As opposed to hardback books.
“One trend that I think is quite likely,” he said, “is for (hardback) books to become more precious, more special … more of a beautiful object … better production values, nicer paper.”
I welcome these developments. Quieter papermills, smaller landfills, more convenience and greater economy for consumers of text, better bindings for collectors. Bring on the silk endpapers and the tipped-in illustrations, I say. And good riddance to bad rubbish.
As for newspapers, I stopped subscribing to printed editions years ago. Don’t miss ‘em. I get my news online.