Are Print Media Dying in China?

Do you still remember there was a time when we took fashion magazines with us when we were rushing to the restroom? Do you still remember when we bought and cut off the pages inside a Vogue, made collages when there were dresses that we love and long to have? (Specifically, do guys still remember when you posted sexy pictures of ladies in swimsuits from magazines on your bedroom wall?) Well, now it is very likely that all these high school memories in our generation may be written in a history textbook, and will probably no longer exist.

According to the financial report released in August 2013 by Modern Media Ltd., one of the leading media company in Greater China area, by the end of June 2013, Modern Media has witnessed a 78% decline, gaining only 3,000,000 RMB (500,000 USD) in profits compared to that of 2012. You cannot even afford a decent house with this amount of money in Mainland China. Moreover, in correspondence with that, the advertising volume in fashion industry especially in print media has also witnessed a downfall in recent years. As the number of digital platforms are rising, consumers are more willing to download magazines with interactive features from App Store, follow fashion tycoons’ fashion blogs, facebook pages, twitters, and weibos (Chinese version of Twitter), than to purchase real print version with similar contents. That really makes sense. If I can enjoy the same thing online, then why should I pay extra money for it?

However, price is not the only factor that influences consumers’ buying behavior. The marketing research site eMarket recently carried out a report about the average time that people spend per day on different media (see the charts below). Being bombarded by media and information, people are spending less and less time on print media. According to the same research in the U.S., there is a clear diminishing trend in time spent with print media from 2010 to 2013.

There is another field research done by a company in China about the sales of kiosks in the capital city Beijing. According to the data, the average daily sales of newspapers and magazines is around 100 RMB (17 USD), which is 50% less than that of 2012.

Facing this fact, are print media really dying in China? If yes, print media in the U.S may not be far behind. So what should print media companies such as Modern Media in China do to cope with this situation? How can we revolutionize traditional advertising on print media? Do our children still have a chance to make collages as we did before?