The Apprentice addresses evolving media trend

As we have grown to expect , this week's task on 'The Apprentice' addressed one of Britain's evolving media trends and the programme did not disappoint as an overview of the changing marketplace ( in between Jim making a few strained excuses for the failing of their task and Tom steadily coming out of his shell and heading for the finish line - Go Tom!)  . 

As described in  last night's show,  consumers are moving away from purchasing traditional printed news formats, such as the broadsheets or even the 'lad-mags' which hit their peak almost a decade ago. Today's consumer is favouring instead, the mass-distribution,  fast turnover,  free (advertising funded) publications which can be browsed rather than read,  and then discarded almost as quickly as they were received. A typical 3-stop tube journey in Central London being more than sufficient time to scan from cover to cover.  Surprisingly though were the figures discussed for the task's advertising space,  given that the teams were presenting unknown publications. At the high page rates discussed, this can only reinforce how massive the distribution must be to provide a return on those advertising costs and in equal measure, how appealing a brand new publication has now become,  with content in issue #1  taking a backseat to the 'novelty factor'  which is very attractive to the speed-eager consumers. (But I really hope that those companies that did agree to take advertising space made their offers conditional and insisted on 'Hip Replacement' being renamed prior toits fictious launch -  ha ha - what were they thinking when they came up with that one?!)


During the past 2 years on an international scale,  we are seeing a move away from not only printed journalism, but also televised news articles,  with audience figures remaining either static or decreasing and in some cases falling at a converse rate to the increasing popularity of online newpapers and real time news feeds.


Consumer News Sources, 2001-2010 (USA)
Percent (%) of adults
Original Source:  Pew Research 

stats source : The Data Media Box,  sponsored by Hubspot.com 

As an example, this audience in the USA, indicated that online news grew by over 17% whilst every other type of media channel  showed a decline,   with newspapers falling by a massive 19% between 2003 and 2010.

This swing in demand and production, obviously begs the question of the resulting content quality.  With trends expecting news reporting to be delivered at faster and faster paces, often as no more than a series of bullet-point  headlines, we need to ask whether or not we are slowly losing the art and/or love of traditional journalism,  and the appreciation of research and non-fictional story telling. BUT...One reassuring statistic is here to save the day, is the steady increase in popularity of the traditional 'Sunday Supplement' (demonstrated by the 4.6% growth in advertising space uptake during the last year).

Ad Spend for Magazine Media

2009 v. 2010, % change

Original Source: Kantar Media

stats source : The Data Media Box,  sponsored by Hubspot.com

This increase reveals an extremely interesting contrast in media demand.  The Sunday supplement sits at the complete other extreme and is traditionally the most creatively composed of all news publications comprising the broadest content and an equally distinctive supporting imagery.  So whilst our lives  become set on fast-forward,  people do still crave the depth that a timely and well thought-out news article or illustrated narrative can provide them,  but reserved as part of their dedicated leisure time. 

And finally to blogging?... a media trend growing exponentially. It is clear that this style of reporting has evolved as the much needed 'middle ground',  as a product of the swift divergence of its predecessors as described and has since evolved organically online. Blogs provide an easily accessible balance of current affairs, technical information and entertainment all within one neat package;  available for anyone to read,  for anyone to contribute towards and distributed on a worldwide scale. And so for the blogging stats?  There are millions to choose from but I think if you're reading this,  then it speaks for itself and I hope that blogging continues to inspire readers and writers alike for many more years to come.  :) 

For more information and detailed profiles of this year's contestants, plus a commentary by the former young hopeful Stuart 'The Brand' Baggs,  you can visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/ 


And, if you missed last night's episode of The Apprentice,  it is repeated tonight (Thurs) at 7pm GMT on BBC3.

Article written by Pudding Creative - interested in evolving media trends and of course, Lord Sugar's Apprentice!     www.puddingcreative.com