Study: Internet eats away at tabloid readership
Pasi Kivioja studied changes in afternoon papers over three decades
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By Sirpa Pääkkönen
Things are not easy for Finland’s late edition tabloids now. Circulation is declining, readership dwindling, and readers are moving to the Internet, says researcher Pasi Kivioja in his newly published study “Afternoon Papers in the Changing Media Field and Society”.
The change itself is nothing new: afternoon papers, which are sensitive to changes in the market, have had to update their identity each decade.
According to Pasi Kivioja, the surprise is in how massive the change has been. The most dramatic change took place in the spring and summer of 2007, when the late edition papers began to report the freshest breaking news. Before that, the online editions mainly had news agency copy and material from the paper editions.
“The same applies to other papers around the world. The change is massive. In Finland, circulation of the afternoon papers began to fall in 2001, and the greatest effect has been on Ilta-Sanomat”, Kivioja says.
Changes in online publication have altered the content of the tabloids and affected the market, profits, and readership, but at the same time it has raised the Internet pages of the late edition tabloids to the status of Finland’s most widely-read online services.
The time line in Kivioja’s study extends from 1985 to 2006. More recent material is involved as well. during the past three decades, Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti have come closer to each other in content, external appearance, and circulation.
Kivioja sees the 1980s as a decade of competition. Iltalehti began to appear in 1980. At that time, the well-established Ilta-Sanomat was revitalised by the appearance of a competitor. The focus on news was strong.
The 1990s was a time of economic turbulence and rapid technical revolution. The afternoon papers were seeking a role alongside television and commercial radio. The tendency toward entertainment grew stronger in the 1990s, and that is when the sensationalist style took hold.
Kivioja describes the present decade as a time of fast entertainment and broadband Internet. The afternoon papers have to find their niche between the Intenet, and the broadsheets, which are seeking to get closer to the reader. They compete for the time of people with everything else that is on offer.
The number of news items has increased, and the items have become shorter. At the same time, the content has become lighter and less sophisticated.
Political and economic topics have deceased in the afternoon papers in the present decade, while crime news has increased. Politicians are dealt with in a more intimate manner through their personalities and dramatic events of their lives. Drama and storytelling are also used in reporting the news.
“Human relationship material has increased in weight. Afternoon papers have changed in the direction of magazines. They no longer have subjects typical of afternoon papers”, Kivioja says.
Development of technology is reflected in the extenrnal appearance of the newspapers. The front pages have undergone a great visual leap. The number of pictures grew in the 1990s, and graphic elements increased.
There are plenty of pitfalls lurking in the future. Kivioja quotes Karl Erik Gustafsson, who studied the tabloid press in Sweden. Gustafsson forecasts a brutal game of elimination. The tabloid market in Sweden has shrunk to half of what it was in the early 1970s. Gustafsson predicts that Expressen, which has fallen to second place, might go out of business in five to ten years.
Kivioja says that the change has been more dramatic in the other Nordic Countries than in Finland.
“The downward trend in circulation began earlier than in Finland. The cultural environment also has an impact. Sweden has a strong tradition of city newspapers. It is possible that Expressen will end up being purely a city newspaper”, Kivioja says.
The situation in Finland is not so precarious.
The two Finnish afternoon papers are in a strong position. Both remain profitable publications. Naturally it is possible that at some point, we would have only one printed late edition newspaper and two online publications.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 30.9.2008
SIRPA PÄÄKKÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
sirpa.paakkonen@hs.fi
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| 30.9.2008 - THIS WEEK |
 Study: Internet eats away at tabloid readership |
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