Reasons for Declining Circulations in the Newspaper Publishing Industry

Running head: BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Today’s Newspaper Publishing Industry:..............................................................................2
Data of declining revenue and circulation-........................................................................3
Status of newspaper leaders-..............................................................................................3
Reasons for Declining Circulations:......................................................................................4
External Assessment-.........................................................................................................4
Internal Assessment-..........................................................................................................9
Strategies for responding to increasing challenges:.............................................................11
Strategies for Chronicle Gazette:.........................................................................................12
Short Term:......................................................................................................................12
Long Term:.......................................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12

2BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
Introduction
Business consultancy is the offering of professional services depending on specific
concerns of organizations or small firms. The professional or group who provide the service
is known as business consultant(s). The problems can be in regards with management,
security, law and policies, accountancy, public relations, human resource concerns and
financial issues. The purpose of the paper is to assess the reasons of the issues faced by
publishing industry in the changing business environment. The paper will be discussing the
case of the publisher house, The Chronicle Gazette. The paper will present the current state of
leaders in newspaper segment. In this paper, the condition of the publishing company will be
analyzed by using the framework, PESTEL and Porter’s analysis. Internal assessment will
also be depicted by the report. The paper will recommend short term and long term steps in
order to address the changing business environment. The summary of the issues and concerns
followed with the mentioning of the deduced analysis of the external and internal analysis.
Discussion
Today’s Newspaper Publishing Industry:
The newspaper Industry is facing declining ad sales, the industry is facing challenges
with the drop of classified advertising. United States have faced cutbacks, closure or
bankruptcy in the recent years, resulting in the employment shed of the journalists. The older
print publishers are facing issues with the Internet media, which is causing the sinking of
revenue. The biggest concern is the sustainability of newspaper industry in the new era of
technology. The industry have faced issues with the introduction of Television media in
1950s. Moreover, the major impact on the declining subscription was caused by the
advancement in technology, resulting in internet media. Consumers are getting numerous
options for acquiring knowledge about any specific topic/news (Nytimes.com). The industry

3BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
is facing issues because of the transformation of ‘readers’ into ‘viewers’. The leaders like The
New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post are also facing challenges
for coping up with the changing consumer behavior and increasing technological
advancements.
Data of declining revenue and circulation-
In the year 2017, the total estimated value of United States daily newspaper
circulation (both print and digital) was around 31 million in the weekdays, which marked an
11 percent down and around 34 million on Sundays, which depicted a fall of 10 percent from
the year 2016. The print circulation faced the highest declines, as around 11 percent decrease
was experienced in the weekday print and 10 percent in Sunday circulation (Kim, Daewon,
and Seongcheol). The information realized by the Newspaper Extinction Timeline in the year
2010 projected that the news-on-paper will become loose its significance in the near future in
U.S. The News Media Alliance of America stopped offering data from the industry in 2013
(Kanellos).
Status of newspaper leaders-
The data of the leading giants reflects that the print and digital circulation have fallen
by 9 percent in weekdays and Sundays. The leaders like The New York times, The
Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are facing challenges and decline (Blackman).
From the assessment of the financial statements of these leader companies in newspaper
industry, the estimated advertising revenue in the year 2017 was around 16.5 billion dollars,
which indicates a decrease of 10 percent from the year 2016 (Auwal). The estimated total
circulation revenue of the leading companies was 11 billion dollars, which indicates a slight
change of 3 percent from the year 2016 (Graham et al.)