TITLE:
Impact of Online Media on Print Media in Developing Countries
AUTHORS:
Caroline Kalombe, Jackson Phiri
KEYWORDS:
Print Newspapers, Online Media, Convergence, Miles and Snow Framework, Zambia Media, Electronic Media
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.7 No.4,
October
22,
2019
ABSTRACT: The newspaper industry must continue to innovate and find ways in which
to harness technology and employ business models that will not only help it
save costs but also increase revenue for the firms. The aim of this study was
to identify the major challenges based on Miles and Snow on how online media is
impacting print newspapers revenue in developing countries and how these
challenges could be addressed in order to improve print newspapers revenue
collection. The study focused on Zambia a country in Southern Africa. The study
was based on a population drawn from seven print media houses in Zambia, five
from the private sector and two from the government. The participants include
the Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia from the public sector. The other
five from private sector include the Daily Nation Newspaper, the Mast, the
Voice, News Diggers Newspaper, and the New Vision. The study used a
questionnaire as a research instrument with a population of 180 and the
response rate of 56.1% to collect the quantitative data. SPSS version 20 was
used to analyze quantitative data based on descriptive statistics, correlation
and regression. The results indicate that, the threat of online media on
printed media in developing countries is growing. The statistical computed
value from Pearson Chi-Square test P-value of 0.034 which was less than 5%,
indicate the positive influence of lower cost of E-paper through the subscription
pricing and how this eventually affects the print media pricing, sales and
revenue collection. The results also show that E-Papers are cheaper through
subscription and easy to access by the mases as the cost of the Internet continues
to decline. This is reduction in circulations and revenue from advertisement as
most advertisers are now focused on online media platform where they are able
to reach clients through various platforms. These factors have led to notable
reduction in print media sales as readers flock to online media platforms,
thereby, reducing circulation of newspapers.