Deep within the Ofcom (the UK's communications regulatory body) website is a research report on, among other things, the impacts of increasing internet usage on national newspaper consumption.  Across seven countries, consumers are spending less time on 'offline' media since acquiring access to the internet.  

National newspaper consumption has eroded, according to Ofcom.  Of those surveyed in seven countries, 32% are reading national newspapers less now that they had access to the Internet.   France, meanwhile, had almost half (47%) of consumers reading national newspapers less.  Only one country, Italy (14%), had consumers reading national newspapers more now than prior to gaining internet access.  Given the downward spiral in national newspaper subscriptions, it can be assumed that the traditional national newspaper base will further erode, due to the growing traction of the Internet, the increasing fragmentation of the media market, the dissemination of free dailies such as the Metro on an international scale, and the consumer pressures on the wallets, regardless of country.

How does this Ofcom survey help to explain current UK media consumption trends at work, even those within our own research?  To begin, the 27% drop in national newspaper consumption from this Ofcom survey dovetails with our recent Media Trends report on the causal effect of online news growth on offline news here in the UK.  Metrica research found that 66% regularly read print newspapers and 26% read the online equivalent, mirroring the Ofcom findings of 65% and 27%, respectively.  However, Metrica research went a few steps further and determined that three quarters of Metrica respondents read the print and Web versions of newspapers, suggesting the influences of increasing choice, convergence and changing economic conditions for consumers and media. 

What does this mean for the erosion of British newspaper readership? If we take the Ofcom survey of 1,000 UK adults (who use the Internet), and apply that to the current UK Internet population estimate of 39 million users, a 27% drop in national newspaper readership audience would translate to more than 1 million Britons engaging less with newspapers, national, regional and local.  Thus, research from regulators such as Ofcom is limited, in that it does not examine the shared newspaper consumption findings from Metrica's research.  Moreover, Ofcom does not distinguish between national, regional and local newspapers, leaving any stakeholder with PR activities somewhat blinded from a comprehensive view of the current newspaper micro-trends. 

Ofcom reports are limited but do provide an international looking glass... a chance to reflect on our own in-country realities and opportunities as well as context, benchmarks, common themes and comparators in international media markets.   

What do you see within these international findings for your own countries and stakeholders?   What might explain the French rejection of national newspapers at a pace far exceeding other countries surveyed?  I welcome your thoughts.

Source: Ofcom (2008)