Google Top Manager: We are here to help the newspapers
“Maybe iPad-like devices will help newspapers and traditional paper publishers, but only a serious evolutionary change will save them,” said Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, in a conversation with students of the journalistic department of Berkeley University.
“Perhaps the future of the news lies in mastering this type of device,” said Varian. “It’s very likely that people will use tablets during leisure hours, as you understand, this is very tempting for publishers.”
But given the music industry’s difficult relationship with iTunes, which took control of packaging and pricing from it, maybe publishers should think before jumping into bed with Apple?
“We know there will be obvious competence with other devices like the Kindle,” he said. - “And of course, the web is not going anywhere. I think we should not consider the tablet as the only and last distribution channel. ” Varian said he studied data from the Newspaper Association of America, the Pew Research Center and other sources about news publishing, advertising revenues and circulation. His conclusion: digital distribution will be a blessing for newspaper publishers only if they radically reconsider their understanding of the product and the methods of delivery to the end user.
Distribution cost
Distribution of the usual printed newspaper accounts for 53% of the costs, this cost is destroyed by switching to digital distribution. Compare this amount to 35%, which comes from the fact that a top manager from Google called the main function - news gathering, editing, management.
The problem is that the audience has been shrinking all this time. Circulation of newspapers has fallen since 1990 and literally collapsed over the past five years. As for the Internet, according to the Pew Center, only 39% of respondents said they were wasting time searching for news.
New devices like the iPad have a chance to win more readers and increase the consumption time. “The good news is that online information can reach people where it couldn’t have been in their workplace,” says Varian. “The bad news is that they don’t have time to read it.”
But what's even worse is that the analysis of search queries shows that readers do not visit news sites for the content that advertisers loved in the print era, for example, on home and garden, travel and auto-moto, which deprives publishers of money flow in the offline world. Instead, they go to Amazon, Bing Travel and Edmunds.com.
“The verticals that drive traffic are sport, weather, breaking news, and money in traveling and shopping,” says Varian. “Pure news is a unique product produced by newspapers, but it is very difficult to monetize.”
Today, he says, online advertising accounts for only 5% of newspaper advertising revenue.
Use data for growth
“Google wants to help publishers use web technology to grow,” says Varian. “I think newspapers could better exploit existing data.” They need contextual targeting and measurement of advertising effectiveness. ”
Varian said that Google advises some publishers from the Google News roster on advertising targeting and user engagement. But not all representatives of the world of newspapers see a friend in the search giant. Last spring, News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch accused the company of copyright infringement when showing short excerpts from the text of the news and selling advertising at the same time. And last week, digital marketing company Outsell said that 44% of Google News users do not go to the sites of the original content providers at all.
Varian rejected the Outsell statement, saying that the structure of the study was “not very impressive,” and a Google representative replied that Google monthly sends over 4 billion visitors to publishers worldwide. “This is a symbiotic relationship,” said Varian. “We, as a search engine, are interested in so that our users can find good content.”
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Paid access will not work
In the list of recommendations Varian does not have paid access, such as the one introduced by the New York Times. “It's too easy to get around,” he says.
Instead, publishers should pay attention to iPad-like platforms so that readers spend their time off on their sites. “The problem is, how do we turn the reading of newspapers into a kind of rest again? We know that reading news is important for our users, but they just don’t spend much time on it. ”
“Perhaps the future of the news lies in mastering this type of device,” said Varian. “It’s very likely that people will use tablets during leisure hours, as you understand, this is very tempting for publishers.”
But given the music industry’s difficult relationship with iTunes, which took control of packaging and pricing from it, maybe publishers should think before jumping into bed with Apple?
“We know there will be obvious competence with other devices like the Kindle,” he said. - “And of course, the web is not going anywhere. I think we should not consider the tablet as the only and last distribution channel. ” Varian said he studied data from the Newspaper Association of America, the Pew Research Center and other sources about news publishing, advertising revenues and circulation. His conclusion: digital distribution will be a blessing for newspaper publishers only if they radically reconsider their understanding of the product and the methods of delivery to the end user.
Distribution cost
Distribution of the usual printed newspaper accounts for 53% of the costs, this cost is destroyed by switching to digital distribution. Compare this amount to 35%, which comes from the fact that a top manager from Google called the main function - news gathering, editing, management.
The problem is that the audience has been shrinking all this time. Circulation of newspapers has fallen since 1990 and literally collapsed over the past five years. As for the Internet, according to the Pew Center, only 39% of respondents said they were wasting time searching for news.
New devices like the iPad have a chance to win more readers and increase the consumption time. “The good news is that online information can reach people where it couldn’t have been in their workplace,” says Varian. “The bad news is that they don’t have time to read it.”
But what's even worse is that the analysis of search queries shows that readers do not visit news sites for the content that advertisers loved in the print era, for example, on home and garden, travel and auto-moto, which deprives publishers of money flow in the offline world. Instead, they go to Amazon, Bing Travel and Edmunds.com.
“The verticals that drive traffic are sport, weather, breaking news, and money in traveling and shopping,” says Varian. “Pure news is a unique product produced by newspapers, but it is very difficult to monetize.”
Today, he says, online advertising accounts for only 5% of newspaper advertising revenue.
Use data for growth
“Google wants to help publishers use web technology to grow,” says Varian. “I think newspapers could better exploit existing data.” They need contextual targeting and measurement of advertising effectiveness. ”
Varian said that Google advises some publishers from the Google News roster on advertising targeting and user engagement. But not all representatives of the world of newspapers see a friend in the search giant. Last spring, News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch accused the company of copyright infringement when showing short excerpts from the text of the news and selling advertising at the same time. And last week, digital marketing company Outsell said that 44% of Google News users do not go to the sites of the original content providers at all.
Varian rejected the Outsell statement, saying that the structure of the study was “not very impressive,” and a Google representative replied that Google monthly sends over 4 billion visitors to publishers worldwide. “This is a symbiotic relationship,” said Varian. “We, as a search engine, are interested in so that our users can find good content.”
')
Paid access will not work
In the list of recommendations Varian does not have paid access, such as the one introduced by the New York Times. “It's too easy to get around,” he says.
Instead, publishers should pay attention to iPad-like platforms so that readers spend their time off on their sites. “The problem is, how do we turn the reading of newspapers into a kind of rest again? We know that reading news is important for our users, but they just don’t spend much time on it. ”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/287188/
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