Case 1- Usa Today: Innovation in an Evolving Industry

USA Today debuted in 1982 as America’s first national general-interest daily newspaper by Allen H. Gannett who was Chairman of Gannett Co., Inc., until 1989. Now this company is worth around $4.7billions and Gannett is a global information juggernaut that publishes 82 daily and 700 nondaily newspapers and affiliated websites, operates 23 broadcast television stations reaching 18.2 percent of the U.S. population. Gannett newspapers including USA Today, have combined circulation of 11.6 million readers every weekday and 12 million readers every Sunday and total online audience is roughly 52 million unique visitors per month. Gannett is currently the largest U.S. newspaper group in terms of circulation.

This source was taken from the New York Post, which is a daily newspaper that is predominant to mainly New York City and its suburbs. The New York Post has been running for over 200 years and is one of the most circulated newspapers in the country. It remains to be a mode of news and information for many citizens.

A newspaper would show future generations what was going on in the world and what was important at the time.

317-318). The major change that USA Today made was USA Today Online (p. 318). This change created both current success and future potential for the company (p. 318). At first a subscription fee was charged for access to USA Today Online, but this subscription fee was quickly dropped allowing free access (p. 318).

And I see his face. It had great resolution in contrast to my local newspaper in spite it being owned by USA today. Music and people were the main headlines because of tonight’s Video Music Awards on MTV. There was also a story about the fallen journalists of WDBJ and an update of Erika but not the usual politics. It was what’s happening now. “Smart.” I thought. They really understand how the internet works. The newspaper is not just a record keeping medium but an informant.

“The Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a circulation of 1.5 million Monday through Saturday and 2.6 million on Sunday, more than 22 million unique website visitors monthly, and a combined print and

For decades, the Los Angeles Tribune was a driving force behind the news in Los Angeles. The emergence of the internet and of video news blogs and e-commerce have diminished the importance of printed media and greatly increased competition in the newspaper marketplace. Problems such as the rising cost of paper, and an aging customer based have affected the relevance of the Los Angeles Tribune. Also with the decreased advertising revenue, these have caused the paper to revise its goals.

Tom and the USA today team faced a new rapidly developing internet information boom. News was not just becoming accessed more by digital sources, but it was being created or changed into digital sources of information. The internet had created, in the context of the news industry, a disruptive outlet to the newspaper production, sales, and distribution. Whole new infrastructures and business strategy focused on web design, rapid information updates, media outlets, and becoming more up to date with the current technological trends in news, information, and communications. With that, Tom realized that the business expand and use its core competencies in content distribution into three formats, which would allow USA today to impact different market segments with one of three particular product/service changes. With the new divisions, the overall strategy would need to become more ambidextrous to guide and coordinate the branches under a single

There was more to Frank’s idea than merely setting up a news Web site, posting great content, hoping readers would

On its debut in 1982, USA Today was reckoned as America’s first National general-interest daily newspaper. Being the global information juggernaut that he is, Gannett managed to identify a gap in the market that he identified as an opportunity for the leading to-be newspaper of the united States. The opportunity was the void gap in the market. Attention to the business traveler was the least attended to

USA Today is a well-known newspaper company who dominates print news in the United States. Currently reaching nearly three million readers, USA Today has climbed their way to the top by evaluating and consistently re-evaluating their strategies to maintain and grow their consumer base, which consists of businessmen, professionals, and politicians (About USA Today). One of their greatest strengths is the wide range of their distribution. USA Today distributes newspapers in all fifty of the United States as well as parts of Canada and the United Kingdom (About USA Today). Their content is styled in an easy to read and understand way, making it more desirable to their readership versus other competitors’ newspapers. The company has established a well-recognized design for their newspaper, making it stand out among its competitors. USA Today is a “go-to” choice for consumers who daily read the newspaper.

(USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the

Recommendation – NYT should continue with its Paywall initiative as upwards of 40% incoming traffic is from other sites i.e. Google, yahoo etc. Internet delivery on mobile devices is also becoming popular. Additionally, lots of users are able to access news content via leaky paywall. This reflects users increasing interest in accessing NYT news content in digital format. Digital edition is in early stages for adoption by end users. New sources and models for revenue generation or sharing are to be discovered and streamlined. Internet will become “platform of choice” for majority of users in near future. New industry needs to continue exploring methods to present news content to user preferred way and adapt to new and different streams of revenue. The digital edition is in its growth phase heading into maturity. There is still potential to increase and development. The data seem to indicate that the New York Times is able to identify those with more willingness to pay and they are getting them to purchase at these increased costs. This

Following is a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis of this great American business enterprise.

Today, Newspapers are at the lowest circulation in seven decades. Numbers do not lie, newspapers are in decline. According to a The Washington Post article from October of 2009, "The Accelerating Decline of Newspapers", only 13 percent of Americans today buy one of 1400 daily papers. In 1940 that number was 31 percent Newspapers' annual losses of paid daily subscriptions are at record lows all across the board. From the same article of the Washington Post: New York Times reported seven percent loss, Los Angeles Times reported 11 percent, Washington Post 6 percent, San Francisco Chronicles 26 percent, Dallas Morning News and Newark Star Ledger both report 22 percent losses. Of the 25 top newspapers in the United States, only the Wall Street Journal did not report a decline in circulation. The Wall Street Journal only managed a 0.6 percent gain. Furthermore, the rate of decline in print circulation at the nation's newspapers has accelerated. Between 2008 and 2009 there was a seven percent drop. Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at