This chapter aims to understand the options for distributing newspaper content online and offline. By adopting a case study approach, it analyses the content strategy of one of the most widely read newspapers in Portugal, Jornal de Notícias (JN). Several data sources were used, including an interview with the director and a survey with 570 readers. JN shared a much larger number of news in the paper version. It is a newspaper focused on difficult news; however, it combines this strategy with the use of infotainment, especially in the online version. This chapter highlights the importance of aligning the content strategy and the preferences of readers.
TopIntroduction
The days when a newspaper had only two distribution options, kiosk or bookstore sales and subscription sales, are long gone. Today, distribution options include online portal, social networks, email, e-paper (Bentley et al., 2019), just to name a few. Additionally, providing online news recommendations to users has become an important trend for news platforms, allowing them to attract more readers (Barbosa & Carvalho, 2021; Liu et al., 2019).
Considering the opportunities that are posed by digital media, this article analyses the multichannel distribution strategy of newspapers, addressing aspects such as the distribution strategy of online and offline content and the adequacy in relation to the public's information needs. The aim of this study is to understand the options for distributing content between online and offline, exploring their motivations and impacts.
A case study on one of Portuguese newspapers with a greater focus on digital is included: Jornal de Notícias (JN). JN is one of the oldest newspapers in Portugal. Apparently, it found how to position itself online and continue to be one of the most sought-after news provider online. Cherian (2015) recommends analyzing success cases in new digital business models in order to identify effective ways to integrate digital strategies. Likewise, research should also include success cases, tackling the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the digital economy (Urbach & Röglinger, 2018).
This article provides several contributions. To the authors' best of knowledge, this is the first analysis of a newspaper's content distribution strategy comparing online and offline. The article provides particularly interesting empirical evidence, which was further explored by integrating the views of both a newspaper manager and its readers. Overall, this article provides valuable insights on the integration of digital channels by newspapers and its effectiveness, which are expected to be of interest of both academics, students, and practitioners in the news sector.
The main aim of this study is to understand the options for distributing content between online and offline, exploring their motivations and impacts. As such, and considering the gaps found in the literature, five specific objectives were defined:
- 1.
Compare distribution: to compare newspapers’ distribution strategy online and offline.
- 2.
Explore: to explore the reasons for providing different content for the paper and online versions of newspapers.
- 3.
Strategies: to analyze the importance of Social Network Sites in newspapers’ news development strategies.
- 4.
Compare success: to compare the success of different types of news online and offline.
- 5.
Monetization: to understand the monetization of different news content.
TopBackground
New Digital Business Models
Newspapers’ traditional business model is dual: on the one hand, they raised revenue through the sale of the newspaper itself, including subscriptions, however, the main source of revenue for newspapers in recent decades has clearly been advertising.
Entering the digital context, newspapers initially tried to replicate the traditional business model, adopting the Pay Per View strategy. However, the Internet soon revealed itself as a facilitator of access to all kinds of information, in a simple, fast and, above all, free mode (Skjeret et al., 2019).
The newspaper industry is in a revenue crisis and the advertising side of the news business has virtually collapsed as a result of global competition with technology platforms (Olsen et al., 2021). This situation worsens considerably when we move towards an increasingly mobile reading (Graves & Simon, 2019).
As such, newspapers have encountered dilemmas of survival. Cook and Sirkkunen (2013) suggest that there are three possible answers: keep the sources of profit and business models intact, direct the offline business model to the online world, and find new ways to obtain financing.