The two biggest issues facing the newspaper business today are readership and revenue. In fact you can probably say the same for all traditional media. While the focus for most companies has been advertising, the reader has proven to be difficult to ignore. Readers are now an essential piece of the total revenue picture as circulation dollars have begun to match (and sometimes exceed) ad revenues. What’s clear is that the local market coverage that newspaper platforms provide still has no real competition. The breadth of content alone has established a value proposition that readers have shown a willingness to support. So looking toward the consumer for a pathway to a new business model would seem logical. It certainly does to The New York Times.
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