Consumers Foresee Doom for Traditional News Media

The print industry is dead. That has been the conventional wisdom for years, and it is becoming increasing clear that the conventional wisdom is correct. What may be news is that network and cable TV are rapidly being flanked by the online media providers.

The rate at which premium video content has moved online should be throwing the media platforms into a panic. These are some of the findings of a new 24/7 Wall St./Harris Poll survey of 2,095 U.S. adults surveyed online between October 8 and 12, 2010 by Harris Interactive for a survey designed in collaboration with 24/7 Wall St. The 24/7 Wall St./Harris Poll on American Media shows that 81% of people believe that the use of print news will decline. That, however, is cold comfort because 55% of those questioned said that traditional media will no longer exist in 10 years. Half said that they get almost all of their news online. This number increases to 65% among the media consumers of the future - people 18 to 34 years of age. Print has been pushed into a corner which is getting smaller and smaller each day. The modest recent increase in print advertising is likely due to the economic recovery and not a rebound of its viability as a source of news and information.