Newspapers are showing their age!

The web is the new network news.

Twenty years ago almost everyone bought a newspaper. But in just the last few years, paid newspaper circulation is taking a nosedive. The Audit Bureau of Circulations just released its yearly report, and it’s big news. The LA Times lost 50,000 readers, a 5% loss. The Miami Herald lost 9% of its readership, the Boston Globe lost 8%, and the San Francisco Chronicle lost a whopping 15%.
But people are still getting news. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, 56 million people visit newspapers online, an 8% increase since last year.

But unlike newspapers, people are just getting snippets of information and aren’t getting the full and complete story. Yahoo News, the number one news site in terms of time spent on their pages, reports that the average person spends only 30 minutes per month there. That’s not much time to take in the world.

Couple this with the latest news on those who are 12 to 34 years old. Only one in four of the people in this age group can name all four major broadcast networks. (If you’re having a little trouble with this one, they’re ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox).

If you wonder how this up-and-coming generation is spending its free time, it’s not watching TV or reading newspapers. The poll showed that 84% of the respondents spend their free time on the Internet, 76% spend their time hanging out with friends, 71% watch movies and 69% watch TV. And they’re not watching Katie Couric, by the way. Their favorite networks are Fox, Comedy Central, ABC, MTV and Cartoon Network. This data came from an online poll conducted by Bolt Media and reported in Advertising Age.

What does all this mean to you? Your company’s visibility will increasingly depend on your presence on the Internet. You may need a new strategy.