The latest newspaper circulation figures have been published and they make for sombre reading. The Daily Mail is the only newspaper with a small year on year rise in sales, while the Star is the only other national newspaper who is growing their readership. The Star!!!!!

Even the nations favourite the Sun was down 1.25% when compared to December 2008, the Mirror took a huge hit and was down 9.01%. If the Sun does go the way of the Dodo then think of all those poor page three girls!

Other so called quality newspapers – the Times, Guardian, Telegraph and the Financial Times all saw sales fall by 13.22%, 12.38%, 9.37% and 6.46% respectively.  People from all walks of life are obviously buying less newspapers and their business model of selling advertising space is showing signs of collapse.

Why are we all buying less newspapers?

People are now consuming news in different ways, whether that be online, TV or via a handheld device, such as an I-Phone, but consumptions inst really the problem, its’ ad consumption.

Much like radio isn’t in the music business, newspapers are not in the news business, they are in the advertising business. Without readers advertisers will not pay to advertise, simple really.

The future is online.

Newspapers need to decide a viable alternative business model and quickly. There are a number of options such as paid subscriptions or freemium’s, adopted by Spotify who offer a limited free service and paid for premium service.

Rumours are rife that Apples forthcoming ITablet will be the saviour off newspapers, only time will tell