The New York Times Change- Traditional Print to Digital

1. Company Background- Last 10 years-

The New York Times was founded in 1851 and has enjoyed significant success and growth. 

• Revenues changes

The company has a steady growth in revenue for the past decade. In 2016 for example, the company recorded a net income of 55.2 million dollars which exceeded the revenue for the previous year (Shieber, 2019). Although the company’s revenue for print advertising dropped by 10.2%,  its revenue for digital advertising in the fourth quarter grew by 22.8%. In 2017, the revenue rose to reach 53.9% as was in line with the company’s revenue growth for the last 10 years (Shieber, 2019).

• Circulations

For the last ten years, circulations at The New York Times have experienced a decline from 959 thousand copies sold in 2009 to only 443 thousand copies in 2019. The drop in circulations is greatly attributed to the introduction of the digital platform (Benton, 2019). In 2014, the drop in circulation forced the company to stop publishing its figures based on weekday circulations for print and digital platforms to only focus on print circulations.

• Subscriptions

The New York Times has experienced consistent quarterly growth in the number of subscribers for the last decade. The number of subscribers has risen from 799 thousand subscribers in 2014 to over one million in 2015 and reached more than 4.39 million subscribers in 2019 (Scire, 2020).

• Advertising spends

Relating to advertising, the company invested 167.9 million dollars to promote its products and grow the company brand (Scire, 2020). The company has however experienced a decline in revenue from the sale of newspapers a good example being the year 2019 where only 530.68 million dollars was made selling advertising space. The digital platform however makes up for the decline and the company had total revenue of 1.81 billion dollars attributed to advertising (Scire, 2020).

 

2. How the Print Industry has evolved overtime
   1. SWOT Analysis

• Strengths
• The company has created a platform where journalists can share information through written text, audio and videos through the company’s website thereby ensuring there is always new content for the audience.
• The company has won 108 Pulitzer prizes which is more than any of its competitors and therefore a testament of its credibility.
• The company website has more than 30 million new visits every month.
• The company operates in both the digital and print platforms (Skool, 2020).
• Weakness
• The company has been accused of biased reporting such as failure to cover the famine in Ukraine.
• A reporter was accused and arrested for plagiarism which lowered the company’s credibility in reporting (Skool, 2020).
• Opportunities
• The company can partner with other websites and generate more revenue online.
• The digital platform can enable the company to reach its audience on a larger scale, thereby improving sales (Skool, 2020).
• Threats
• High competition from other newspapers and publications.
• Negative reviews and parodies from users affect the company image
• Lawsuits are a possibility due to laws on plagiarism, defamation and other mistakes arising from errors in reporting (Skool, 2020).

 

 

3. What was the problem for moving from Print to Digital?

The major challenge when making the shift from print to digital is recreating the relationship that the company had with its customers through print on a digital platform. The company’s success is greatly attributed to the number of subscribers the newspaper has and also the people willing to advertise on its platform (Lee, 2019). Since society had already adapted to material in print form, making a switch to a digital platform required the company to take on a different approach to attract and retain new subscribers on its digital platform.

Although the digital platform would offer more opportunities to the audience, convincing them to pay for intangible products was challenging especially because the value for money was attached to the physical print publications such as newspapers and magazines (Grabowicz, 2010). Although digital content bore close resemblance to print, the company had to come up with different pricing in order to encourage the target audience to subscribe to the digital sources introduced by the company.

Other than pricing, making profits was also challenged by the facts that the target audience had a negative attitude towards advertisements on the digital platform compared to print. Advertising in newspapers was easier as the advertisements were placed in the papers and the reader had the liberty to decide whether to read them or not (Hsu, 2019). In digital media however, advertisement often appear before, during or after the news and thus interrupts the flow of information. Since customers pay for the data needed to use the digital platforms, advertisements are regarded as interruptions and most people prefer sites that have limited advertisements. For a company that relies on advertisements for a significant percentage of revenue collected, the target audience’s attitude added on to the challenges experienced when making the switch from print to digital.

4. Define the change in behavioural terms.
   1. Use the Switch model to analyse the sources of resistance.

The resistance experienced when making the switch from print to digital is mainly because it required the target audience to alter their behaviour and mode of accessing news and information. The New York Times had established a tradition where the target audience would access information in the form of newspapers and magazine (Ember, 2017). The switch to digital however required the target audience to either use the digital platform alongside print or drop print and only rely on the digital platform.

            The approach taken to change from print to digital was in line with the switch model which is based on the premise that behaviour change occurs in five steps namely; precontemplation, contemplation, preparation for action, action and maintenance (Water Aid, 2010). The challenge existed in the precontemplation stage as people had not put much thought on how to improve the way they accessed products and services from The New York Times.

1. What taken-for-granted cultural assumptions are hindered the change effort?

When making the switch from print to digital, The New York Times did not properly assess how altering the rituals that exist in society would affect the new changes introduced (UOM, 2010). The change effort was thus hindered because people had gotten used to receiving The New York Times products and services in print form, despite the existence of digital technology.  Although the switch from print to digital was necessary, the disruption it caused to how the target audience accessed information from The New York Times greatly contributed to the challenges faced when switching from print to digital platforms.

 

5. Considering the change problem and your role as Head of HR, what kind of network do you need to build and why?

The company needs to create a website that focuses on improving communication between the company and its customers so as to bridge the gap between print and digital media as well as establish a similar ritual like the one that existed when the company only operated in print. The digital platform created will enable the company to engage with the target audience and inform them of the new changes introduced, why the changes were necessary and what the target audience can do in order to establish a presence in the digital platform. Since the target audience had not anticipated the change before it was introduced, the information shared through the website will help them to understand why the change was necessary and also how to go about ensuring that they benefit the most from digital media.

 

6. Considering your change problem, what interpersonal elements of the culture need to change? How can you achieve this?

The interpersonal element of the culture that needs to be changed is the norms around how people access news and information from the media. The dominance of print media had created an environment where news and information were available through written form in newspapers, press releases and magazines (UOM, 2010). If the switch from print to digital is to be successful, the norms need to be adjusted so that the target audience can learn the importance of digital media and how it offers them better access to products and services from The New York Times

            To achieve this, the company needs to invest in more advertising and the use of influential and recognised people in society to popularise digital media. Since accessing news on a digital platform rather than newspapers is still a new concept especially to the older audience, trendsetters and popular people in society can help to convince the target audience to use digital media as well as print. Once enough people start using the digital platform, accessing products and services through the digital platform will slowly become a norm in society and finally overcome some of the changes that exist due to resistance to change on the side of the target audience.

 

7. How are the Kotter model and the Experience Change model similar to the Switch model of change? What is different and what is similar between these models? Is one of these models more ‘right,’ from your perspective?

The three models are similar in that they assume that it is possible to alter how people perceive change. The approaches suggested by the three models offer guidelines on how to prepare for change, how to implement it and how to ensure that the people affected accommodate the change and alter their approaches in ways to ensure they benefit from the change. There are however differences in that The Kotter model use 8 steps to introduce and enhance acceptance to change while the switch model uses only five steps Kotter, 2012). The switch Model also focuses more on the target audience rather than employees working for the organization implementing the change.

 The Experience change model also differs from the Switch model because it focuses on the experiences that that employees have and how they prepare them for adapting to change. According to the experience change model, better results are achieved when the company equips the employees with the skills and knowledge needed to adapt in any situation thus preparing them for changes that will occur in the future (Joinson et al, 2016). The switch model however focuses on helping the audience understand the changes and what occurs in every step of the process in order to prepare them for the change. Emphasis is placed on the change itself rather than creating an environment where people can adapt to any change introduced (Aleti et al, 2014). Although the models have different approaches on how to implement change, none is more applicable than the other as they both offer ideal strategies on how to implement change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Benton J, (2019) “The New York Times is getting closer to becoming a majority digital    company” NiemanLab, retrieved from, https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/02/the-new-  york-times-is-getting-close-to-becoming-a-majority-digital-company/

Brennan, L., Binney, W., Parker, L., Aleti, T., & Nguyen, D. (2014). Social marketing and           behaviour change: Models, theory and applications. Cheltenham, UK : Edward Elgar

Ember S, (2017) “The New York Times Co.’s decline in print advertising tempered by digital      gains” The New York Times, retrieved from,        https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/business/media/new-york-times-q4-       earnings.html?auth=login-google

Grabowicz P, (2010) “The transition to digital journalism” Berkeley, retrieved from,             https://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/digital-transform/

Hsu T, (2019) “The advertising industry has a problem: People hate Ads” The New York Times,   retrieved from, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/business/media/advertising-     industry-research.html

Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review Press

Lee E, (2019) “Digital media: What went wrong” The New York Times, retrieved from,             https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/business/media/buzzfeed-digital-media-       wrong.html

Little, L., Sillence, E., & Joinson, A. (2016). Behavior Change Research and Theory:       Psychological and Technological Perspectives. Saint Louis Elsevier Science

Scire S, (2020) “The New York Times’ success with digital subscription is accelerating, not         slowing down” NiemanLab, retrieved from, https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/05/the-          new-york-times-success-with-digital-subscriptions-is-accelerating-not-slowing-down/

Shieber J, (2019) “Profits at the New York Times show media dinosaurs are ruling the internet”   retrieved from, https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/06/profits-at-the-new-york-times-show-        media-dinosaurs-are-ruling-the-internet/

Skool, (2020) “The New York Times SWOT analysis, competitors, segmentation, target   marketing, positioning and USP” retrieved from,            https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/media-and-entertainment/6455-the-new-york-      times.html

University of Minnesota, (2010) “Sociology: Understanding and changing the social world”         Creative Commons, retrieved from, https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/front-            matter/publisher-information/

Water Aid, (2010) “Behaviour change theory” London School of Hygiene and Tropical    Medicine, retrieved from, https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/media/11191