Tablets Capturing Newspaper Viewers

According to a recent comScore study, from its TabLens service, nearly 2 in 5 U.S. tablet owners read newspapers and/or magazines on their device in August, with 1 in 10 reading publications almost daily. 

Analysis of readership activities across platforms revealed that Kindle Fire users displayed the strongest propensity for reading newspapers and magazines on their device. 

Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of Mobile, says "...tablets are...redefining how people consume news and information...with the format more conducive to reading longer form content...in the case of online newspapers, tablets are now driving 7% of total newspaper page views...impressive...considering the relative infancy of the tablet space..." 

In the three-month average period ending August 2012, 37.1% of tablet owners read a newspaper on their device at least once during the month, with 11.5% of tablet owners reading newspapers almost every day. 

Kindle Fire users demonstrated the greatest tendency to read newspapers, with 39.2% doing so in August, slightly edging out iPad at 38.3%. NOOK Tablet owners boasted the greatest percentage of high-frequency newspaper readers with 13.4% doing so on a near-daily basis. 

Magazines/periodicals showed even higher readership rates than newspapers with 39.6% of tablet owners reading magazines on their device during the month. Kindle Fire owners once again showed the highest readership rate at 43.9%, followed by iPad users at 40.3%.

Newspaper and magazine tablet audiences closely resembled one another in gender, age and household income distribution, says the report. Newspaper audiences were 17% more likely to be male compared to an average tablet owner (index of 117), while magazine audiences were 11% more likely to be male (index of 111). 

People between the ages of 25-34 represented the highest share of readers, accounting for 27.4% of newspaper consumers, and 28.2% of magazine/periodical consumers. People age 35-44 accounted for 1 in 5 readers in both categories. More than half of readers had a household income of $75k or greater, while those in the highest income segment of $100k or greater skewed most heavily toward readership.

(Source: The Center for Media Research, 11/16/12) 

Dallas Morning News, LA Times Layoffs

There is no rest for the weary in the newspaper business, and precious little job security, either. This week brought a fresh round of layoffs affecting newsroom staffers at the Dallas Morning News, owned by A.H. Belo, and the Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times.

Both newspapers have already seen several waves of layoffs over the last couple of years, reflecting the broader trend in the newspaper business, which is enduring steep revenue declines.
 
The Dallas Morning News laid off 38 newsroom staffers, including a number of copy editors, deputy editors, reporters and two photographers, according to "DMNcuts," a blog devoted to tracking layoffs at the newspaper. This is the third round of layoffs at the newspaper since 2008, following the elimination of 40 positions in September 2008 and 200 positions in January 2009, although not all in the newsroom.
 
DMN owner A.H. Belo has cut its workforce from 3,400 full-time employees at the end of 2007 to 2,200 full-time employees at the end of 2010. The most recent round of cuts will lower the total to about 2,162, down 36.4% from the 2007 figure.
 
The Tribune Co. has laid off over 30 employees from its operations department, with staffers getting word of the cuts last Friday. This round of cuts follows several earlier waves that trimmed 150 positions in February 2008, 250 in July 2008, 75 in October 2008, 300 in January 2009, 80 in January 2010, and 20 in June-July 2011.
 
Tribune Co. has trimmed its workforce from around 23,800 in 2004 to approximately 14,000 currently, for an overall reduction of 41.2% over this period.
 
Although Tribune Co. has not released official financial results since it went private as an employee-owned company in 2007, in 2010 total revenues probably came to around $3.18 billion, according to court documents related to Tribune's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings -- down 44.5% from $5.73 billion in 2004.
 
In the second quarter of 2011, A.H. Belo's total revenues came to $114.5 million, down 40.4% from $192.1 million in the second quarter of 2007.