The 4C’s of Mobile News: Channels, Conversation, Content and Commerce more

Newspapers are in flux. Having seen their traditional businesses battered by forces that include the structural changes fuelled by the rapid growth of networked digital technologies and the cyclical shifts in the economy, mainstream news publishers have intensified efforts to adapt their journalism processes and products in order to generate new income. However, growing digital revenue streams to match, if not surpass, the losses in print circulation and advertising incomes has proved more difficult than many had predicted. A bright – or at least not quite so dim – spot glows from mobile devices. Drawing on data from an annual audit conducted in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, this article examines how 66 metropolitan newspapers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have performed with respect to channels, content, conversation and commerce (4C’s). While findings show the expansion of newspapers’ mobile endeavours, these are uneven and characterised by repurposing existing content and duplicating traditional commercial models.

KEY WORDS: newspapers; future of journalism; media competition; mobile news; online business models