One thing that's for sure to happen in newspaper business is the slow decline in readership, circulation and ad revenue. I guess, it was the Covid years that shifted a trend towards online consumption of news and online transaction.
In the book Zero to One, Peter Thiel mentions about newspaper biz as the old economy biz. He was referring to market capitalization of New York Times in comparison to Twitter!
I grew up in a time when most people had the habit of starting a day by reading newspaper. So, I too like reading newspaper and on Sunday's I loved to read Times of India and Sunday times supplement. However, if you look at the trend around now ( in 2025), the consumption of news is shifting to online channels. It's partly the ease of picking news from online sites, and the changing attitude of new gen which includes millennial, gen z and other band of people.
Along side the changing method of news consumption, the newspaper industry too has degraded in value, in authenticity and bias. Many instances are pointed out at the way media outlets has gone down in stature.
With all these in context, I wonder how newspaper industry can add relevance, and value with the new gen audience. So, what can we do to make newspaper industry more dynamic, more connected with the online world:
3 or 4 Ways How Newsmedia can Take
1. Most newspapers have an online version which requires a separate subscription. The Hindu, Times of India, Indian Express, etc has their online version bringing latest updates onr the web. The limitation of physical copy is its very nature - once printed, reader has to wait for the next day to read the latest news. And, now most news are consumed through Whatsapp, YouTube, or Breaking stories on TV. This is where traditional news is loosing out. So, how can a newspaper remind people to read latest news on their online portal.
Provide a QR Code Link
I'm not sure if such an option exist already on physical newspaper. Let's suppose, a person by evening wishes to read online edition, then he or she can scan and read. But, the problem is the firewall which will require people to register. So, here's a different way around it. Why not give a limited 4 minute access to a person based on just email address or phone verification. After-all, such short-time free access can spur more demand, and traffic to the site. And, for all sites, traffic is money and value.
2. Short-Learning Module for IAS aspirants or Competitive Exam
Recently, came across a news about a graduate boy in Kannur who gives a gist of the news to his audience. So, what he does is he collates and makes a PPT Slide or quick bite information of the news and sends it across to his subscribers. In this way, the subscribers, who are mostly students preparing for competitive exam to get the latest doze of news in a snack able format.
Is it this cool for this fellow to make such an information and monetize it. Mind you - he is just studying for graduate level class.
What's there for a Newspaper Biz!
If a student can make a brief account of daily or weekly news, why can't this strategy be applied by the newspaper team. Now, imagine, if The Hindu, makes a short brief account of the national and International, and biz events in separate column. This can be made as a separate section on the physical paper or for online edition.
In this way, a student who's interested to know the gist of the events can visit that particular section and get information in one gulp. There's no need to scan the entire paper looking for important events what could be relevant for the IAS examination. Moreover, as it's prepared by the newsteam, they can make a good copy with good catchy headlines. This page can be shared on Whatsapp or it can be downloaded as a PPT, etc. What say, newsroom people?
Newspaper boy
At one time, almost all houses had newspaper subscription. Now, this number is dwindling. Many are opting out of subscription. All these can affect the income of a newspaper delivery person.
Additional Income for Newspaper Boys
I remember the time when newspaper was delivered by newsagents on a cycle. Now, most of them arrive on electric scooter. And, so, I was thinking what if the newspaper do some-other value added job apart form just throwing newspaper.
What if they can do these along with the task of distributing newspaper:
1. Get into a tie-up with Milma or Nadini and deliver milk
2. Supply fresh vegetables or cut vegitables which they have personllly procured, washed or sliced.
3. Delivery fish to households. ( Share every day's stock on Whatsappp. Delivery it along with the newspaper) In some cases, they can deliver it to houses which are not newspaper subscribes. ( Same route)
4. Deliver provisions ( They can tie-up with a provision store and supply these stuffs)
5. Make homemade idlies and supply it to households in neat and clean containers or in stainless steel tiffin boxes
6. Supply fresh juice for people to drink in the morning or salads or fine quality filter coffee in flasks
Build an AI Model in Online Newspaper
Imagine, if there's an AI built-in with the online edition, which can filter or condense daily or weekly news in whatever format it's asked. This can be a proprietary tool by the newspaper which use the typical content filtering mechanism to reshape the content requested by the user.
What can it benefit.
User can filter specific events across a period. or track one news across a month, etc.
Select only specific topics and it can elaborate and make it more detailed by supplementing with other news.
Scan the news and make it in a language suitable for a high-school kid. Also, it can automatically create images which will make it easier for a reader to relate to the news.
Find out more about trending topics or breakthrough technologies, etc or get related news link from other sources.
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