Sunday, August 5, 2012

What happens to the Washington Post

The quarterly results of the Washington Post show clearly the painful situation of a prestigious daily in the Internet era. 
The revenue of the group is 1 billion$ and it's income is still positive at 52 millions. However, the flagship newspaper registers a staggering fall of 9% of its circulation. The ad revenue is down by 9 millions while the Internet revenue is only up by 2 millions. 

Interestingly, what makes the group slightly profitable is not Internet, nor it's ailing education branch Kaplan but television. Broadcast and cable TV turn out an income of 81 millions that makes for the losses of the daily and Kaplan. 

This outcome should not be a surprise. Contrary to what the Internet nerds believe, television is still a very profitable business with good audience, whether in America or in Europe. The threat for the broadcasters comes from the attempts of Google and Apple to build up television services easily availables on increasingly popular tablets. A tough challenge for the WP group.