NewsBeat

4 NewsBeat June 2016 By NU YANG As Digital Fatigue Sets In, Readers are Waking Up to Newspapers F or years now, media analysts have said technology will save print—and maybe it will, just not in the way they predicted. The news industry is going through an overload of information particularly in the digital sphere. We can point our fingers at the 24-hour news cycle. We can blame social media. But according to marketing expert Andrew Davis, 17 new Web pages are published every second. If you think about it, said Davis, in a span of five seconds that's 85 new Web pages getting uploaded to the Internet. "Just because there is more information available, it doesn't mean one can consume more," he said in a Shweiki Media webinar titled "The Future of Digital is Print." Davis suggested that print products shouldn't contribute to the surplus of information brought on by their digital counterparts. Instead, they should create content consumers want to consume — and that's where quality over quantity comes in. With the recent rise of ad-blockers, it shows audiences are unhappy with their digital experiences, and as digital fatigue sets in among consumers, the newspaper industry — and print—is poised for a revival. Tech Fighting Tech By now you've read the stats: the number of people using ad blocking software has grown 41 percent year over year, and the estimated loss of global revenue due to blocked advertising during 2015 was almost $22 billion. According to an Adobe and Pagefair report, findings showed that ad blocking users grew from 21 million in 2010 to 181 million in 2015. Our Digital Publishing columnist Rob Tornoe discussed the ad blocking phenomenon recently, stating, "Most users aren't driven to ad blockers to block all ads, but instead aim to improve their Web browsing experience by ridding themselves of things most publishers also hate— autoplay video, annoying pop-ups and intentionally hard- to-close interstitials." In a Columbia Journalism Review article, Washington Post staff writer Michael Rosenwald said, "The damage is more than financial. It's existential. The rise of ad blocking comes just as the media industry had settled on a revenue model to move forward after years of disruption and pain. The new model looked a lot like the old one: circulation revenue plus ad revenue equals sustainability. With so few people willing to pay for news, advertising was supposed to bring up the rear." And unlike print ads, Rosenwald said digital ads aren't "static." "They blink. They follow. They irritate. And readers can do what they never could in print: erase them," he said. To compete with digital giants like Facebook and Google, newspapers have had to bet big on online advertising. Now, ad blocking software is preventing them from taking a piece of the revenue pie. It's another example of technology once again hindering newspapers. To combat against ad blocking, many publishers are asking readers to uninstall their ad blocking software. Digiday reported that Forbes magazine started blocking the site to some ad block users. "Visitors using desktop browser ad blockers are greeted with a polite but firm message on the 'welcome screen' ad page Forbes serves prior to landing on its site," Digiday's Brian Morrissey said. "Once an ad blocker is disabled, users are promised the 'ad-light experience' for 30 days." While publications like Forbes chooses to reward its readers for turning off their ad blockers, others have taken harsher approaches. According to the Guardian, Germany's Axel Springer banned readers who used ad blockers from its Bild tabloid website. Visitors either had to turn off their ad blocker or pay a monthly fee to browse the website mostly ad-free, reported the Guardian. In March, The Verge reported that major French news outlets, including Le Monde, Le Parisien, and L'Équipe, launched a week-long campaign against ad blocking software, forcing some users to uninstall the software before accessing the sites. The initiative's aim was to "reminder readers that their content and services are not free, and to remind them of the indispensable character of advertising as a source of finance." When one of Germany's biggest newspapers, Süddeutsche Zeitung, went after Eyeo, the company behind Adblock Plus, the lawsuit was thrown out, and the court "dismissed the newspaper's argument that Adblock Plus was interfering in a contract readers were entering into with the newspaper that included accepting ads," according to the Guardian. The British newspaper also reported that Adblock Plus spokesperson Ben Williams said the ruling showed the court viewed ad blocking as a challenge and opportunity rather than a threat. "We know that the transition from print to online is still a huge challenge. But we view ad blocking much like the court: as an opportunity, or a challenge, to innovate." Created in 2006, the free Adblock Plus extension has been downloaded more than 300 million times, and as Rosenwald wrote for the CJR, it has "become the Internet's advertising sheriff." But publishers are taking a stand and fighting back against ad blockers and its creators. In April, 17 newspaper publishing companies, who are also Newspaper Association of America members, sent a "cease and desist" letter to Brave, a browser created by Brendan Eich, the former CEO of Mozilla. The new browser, which announced its launch earlier this year, has ad blocking software built into it and replaces ads with their own. The 17 companies represented more than 1,200 U.S. newspapers, including the McClatchy Co., the New York Times Co. and the Washington Post. "Brave's proposed business model crosses legal and ethical boundaries, and should be viewed as illegal and deceptive by the courts, consumers and those who value the creation of content," NAA CEO David Chavern said in a press release. As more people download ad block software, it should not only prompt publishers to create better Web experiences, but also remind readers the power of print. Audiences are getting tired of being bombarded on their social media streams and their mobile devices. What was once known as Big Brother is now called Big Data. Publishers have more access to information about their readers and advertisers and that can cause privacy and Illustration by Tony O. Champagne

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