Statistical, Ecosystems and Competitiveness Analysis of the Media and Content Industries: The Newspaper Publishing Industry

The Newspaper Publishing Industry 
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Figure 15: Online offering on news sites
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Source: Slot, Ruhe, & Frissen, Nieuws Online, 2011b. 
Traditional news providers use the internet primarily as an extra to their primary news 
distribution via print or broadcast channels (Slot, Ruhe, & Frissen, Nieuws Online, 2011b; 
Rebillard & Touboul, 2010). The social and participatory possibilities of the internet are 
mainly used as add-ons. New news providers rely more on the social aspects of online 
services in their service; they engage their users more often in the creation and preservation of 
news than traditional providers.
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The research of Slot et al. (2011b) is based on an analysis of 57 international news websites. 

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Statistical, Ecosystems and Competitiveness Analysis of the Media and Content Industries 
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Figure 16: News website’s use of social media aspects on their websites
Source: Slot et al., 2011b. 
 
Smartphones and tablets 
Since approximately 2008, people are also able to access the world wide web via mobile 
devices like smartphones and e-readers. Tablet computers like the iPad are again causing 
major changes in news publishing and news consumption. In 2010 Apple was the first to 
launch the iPad, but soon after other companies like Samsung and HTC followed, producing 
tablets on Android or other operating systems. Publishers have looked at these tablets with 
great expectation. Tablets – a combination between a mobile phone and a computer – provide 
users with easy internet access and enable them to use a large number of applications (apps) 
on a mobile, portable device, with a user friendly interface. Not only do tables offer 
consumers a better reading and browsing experiences, they also provide an interesting 
publishing tool. They offer publishers the opportunity to create a host of different apps for 
users. A large number of applications for mobile devices has been developed by news 
providers, for whom news services on smartphones and tablets could offer interesting new 
opportunities to distribute their content and introduce new pay models. 
Until now, traditional news providers primarily use the iPad as a new distribution channel for 
their traditional news offer (Slot, Ruhe, & Frissen, Nieuws Online, 2011b). Publishers offer 
digital versions of their print product for sale via the iPad, so far with little extra 
functionalities for interactions or user participation. Users can purchase a subscription, or buy 
single copies of the digital version of magazines or newspapers.
New news providers do offer more extended functionalities on their iPad applications. 
Examples are Flipboard, Zite and Pulse, which offer personalised, social magazines for the 
iPad and other tablets. These services allow users to aggregate their own unique social 
magazine and combine these with content from Twitter and Facebook with other online 
(news) content. Users can completely personalise the service.
A format which has seen a surprising revival in recent years, with services like Instapaper and 
Read It Later, is the so called Long-form journalism. Disproving the typical thinking that web 
users want their information in small, easy chunks, sites like Longform.org – which curates 
more in-depth stories – are flourishing, allowing users to push longer articles off to mobile 
devices – like the iPad – to read later They seem to be specifically suitable for use on tablets. 

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