How Big Is the Impact of Online Content and Media?
Driven by the growth of mobile devices, Internet users are changing their reading and watching habits day by day, and they are challenging existing business models, which have been supporting newspapers, books, magazines, television and Hollywood movies for decades. Clearly, the future of content – news, music and video – is online. No other sector of the U.S. economy is as challenged by the Internet and the web as the content industry.
The online content industry is divided into two categories: print (newspapers, magazines, books) and entertainment, including TV, movies, music (including broadcasting) and games.
Based on data from eMarketer, the following is the online content consumption in the United States in 2017.
key factors affecting the online publishing industry, take online newspaper for example
As the picture shows, U.S. newspaper ad revenues have declined by 50% since 1980. As a percentage of total revenues, circulation subscription revenues have become more important. Digital is a small but rapidly growing source of revenue, hitting $5.2 billion in 2016.
And here are the newspaper models from 1995 to 2017.
Key factors affecting online newspapers include:
Audience size and growth. Although the newspaper industry as a whole is the most troubled part of the publishing industry, online readership of newspapers is growing, fueled by smartphones, e-readers, and tablet computers.
Revenue models and results. Online newspapers predominantly rely on both advertising and subscription revenues. Digital ad revenues are not sufficient to cover losses in print advertising.
Key factors affecting the online entertainment industry.
The entertainment industry is generally considered to be composed of five commercial
players: television, radio broadcasting, Hollywood films, music, and games. Together, these largely separate entertainment players generated $147 billion in annual U.S. revenue in 2016. This includes both digital and traditional format revenues.
There are five main players in the entertainment sector: television, motion pictures, music, games, and radio broadcasting.
Key factors include the following:
Audience size and growth. The audience for online movies and television is growing dramatically.
The emergence of streaming services and the mobile platform.
The music industry is experiencing similar trends as the movie industry: the growth of streaming services, or Internet radio, the continued decline of online purchases, and increased downloads on mobile devices.
The greatest growth is anticipated in mobile gaming, as the mobile market is rapidly expanding along all e-commerce fronts.
Generally speaking, today, the printing industry, including newspapers, books and magazines, is struggling to cope with the shift of readers to digital substitutes. Radio and cable TV, as well as Hollywood and the music industry, are also struggling with outdated business models based on physical media. And the rapid evolution of online content and media will certainly drive the further development of e-commerce.
