The United States Media Landscape White Paper

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The United States Media Landscape

2 The United States Media Landscape

Introduction

The U.S. Media Overview

Traditional Media

Newspaper

Television

Radio

Online Media

Influential Online News Media

Influential Business & Financial News Sites

Blog

Search Engine

New Media

Social Media

Multimedia

Mobile Media

U.S. Corporate Distributions Do’s & Don’ts

Tips for Writing a Good Press Release

Tips for Improving Media Relations

Appendix

Table of contents

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3Copyright © 2017 PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The United States (U.S.) has the most developed media networks in the world. Since the U.S. is a global media center, both its traditional media and

digital media have big impacts on the world. Learning about the state of the media in the U.S. will be very helpful for international companies to

develop their influence on overseas markets and establish their own branding in the world's largest economy.

Introduction

New Media

Social Media

Multimedia

Mobile Media

U.S. Corporate Distributions Do’s & Don’ts

Tips for Writing a Good Press Release

Tips for Improving Media Relations

Appendix


The U.S. Media Overview

The newspaper industry was hit hard in 2015, falling into the

doldrums after declining continuously since 2010. Another

traditional media -- television -- also faced big challenges under

the impact of new media. Although profits continue to rise in the

television industry, the trend that people are shifting their attention

to online media cannot be ignored. At the same time, a lot of

profits are flowing into technology and new media companies

such as Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter, a testament that

the new media are increasingly challenging traditional media

and has become Americans’ important channel of obtaining and

disseminating information. The U.S. media sometimes gives the

impression that there is an oversupply of new suppliers, products

and services. However, there is an important observation worth to

take note of: the market is monopolized by a relatively small number of

media tycoons, especially in the traditional media industry.

The media conglomerates are usually big entertainment companies

investing in the television, magazines, radio and even theme park

business. In 2016, The Walt Disney Company has the highest revenue

in the world, followed by Twenty-First Century Fox, Time Warner, CBS

Corporation and Viacom, according to Fortune magazine. Take Time

Warner for example, its business assets include CNN, CNN Radio,

Warner Bros., New Line Cinema and The CW.

These media giants usually symbolize authority as they have always

been the pioneers in developing new realms in broadcasting, television

or the prevalent social media. Almost all of today's most influential

media companies have made massive acquisitions in various industries

to control the mass media. This gives an important and distinctive

impression of the U.S. media: embrace innovation and if excel in doing

so, future will be bright and promising.

With the rapid growth in online and mobile media consumption in

recent years, traditional media companies have also been striving to

expand their services in order to satisfy the needs of their customers.

Despite market being monopolize by these media giants, there are

thousands of local and niche media outlets actively providing sources for

local and trade industry news. As such, Asia-Pacific companies should get

familiar with hierarchical structure of the U.S. media scene, and at the

same time stay informed of the emerging business of today’s media.


NO.1

NO.2

NO.3

NO.4

NO.5

Top 5 media companies in the world by revenue

Even though the new media such as social networking

sites, blogs and forums are popular sources of news

in the recent years, a survey conducted by the Pew

Research Center in 2016 shows that Americans still rely

on traditional media to get news. The majority (57%) of

Americans get news from television, compared with 38%

from the growing online media. Even though only 20% of

Americans consume news from newspapers, traditional

media such as television, broadcasting and related

components continue to maintain its leading position in

the U.S. media industry. .

Source：State of the Media 2016, Pew Research Center

Newspaper Television Magazine

1.Wall Street Journal

1.CNN 1.Forbes

2.New York Times 2.Fox News Channel 2.Fortune

3.USA Today 3.MSNBC 3.New York Magazine

4.LA Times 4.CNBC 4.Bloomberg Businessweek

5.Daily News 5.Bloomberg TV 5.Time Magazine

Traditional Media


Newspaper

Out of 1,400 daily newspaper publications in the U.S., only four are circulated across the nation and the rest are distributed locally. The Wall

Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today are known as the big three giants in the U.S. newspaper industry. These three daily newspaper

publications have key influence over how Americans learn about U.S. and global news. Hence, companies should reach out to these three media

giants if they want to have access to a wider base of audience.

Other major newspaper publications such as The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post mainly target the wide range but stable group

of online readers, followed by printed newspaper readers. To obtain non-advertising revenue, most newspaper publications offer paid online

subscription services. Many newspapers’ websites are incorporating social media widgets such as Facebook and Twitter into their sites to increase

their exposure on these popular channels.

In the recent years, the newspaper circulation has been hit by the Internet. Circulation of U.S. paid newspapers has been declining since 2010 and

there was a decline of 7% in 2015, according to Pew Research Center. As a result, newspaper agencies are diversifying their business to include online

and mobile media. Some newspaper publications even stopped printing daily newspapers and only print a few days per week.



According to the latest data from the Newspaper

Association of America, advertising revenue of U.S.

newspapers continues to decline, while revenue from

online subscriptions is growing. At present, revenue

from online subscriptions accounts for 12% of the entire

industry’s revenue. Among the media that undergo the

transformation, the success of The New York Times has

been impressive. According to its financial report released

in August 2012, The New York Times’ revenue from

newspaper subscriptions exceeded advertising revenue

for the first time, due to the continued growth of its

online subscribers.

On the contrary, News Corp. came up with an iPad-only

news app in 2011, but the operation ceased in less than

two years.

Newspaper Daily Circulation

NewsPublication

1 The Wall Street Journal 2，378，827 News Corporation

2 The New York Times 1,865,318 The New York Times Company

3 USA Today 1,674,306 Gannett Company

4 Los Angeles Times 653,868 Tribune Publishing

5 Daily News 516,165 Daily News, L.P.

6 New York Post 500,521 News Corporation

7 The Washington Post 474,767 Nash Holdings

8 Chicago Sun-Times 470,548 Wrapports

9 The Denver Post 416,676 Digital First Media

10 Chicago Tribune 414,930 Tribune Publishing

U.S. top ten newspapers in 2013Data is based on Wikipedia and includes both printed

and digital newspaper subscriptions


According to Pew Research Center’s report on the state of the news media in 2016, 57% of Americans access news via television. The

total viewership for U.S.’s three major news channels, namely Fox, CNN and MSNBC, increased by 7% in 2015 to nearly 2 million viewers.

Although the use of the Internet for news is growing, television remains the dominant channel for Americans to acquire new information.

Cable television, local television and night time television networks

Social media, websites and mobile apps

Television

Internet

Radio

Newspaper

57%

38%

25%

20%Note: 1% of the survey respondents do not read news from the platforms listed above

18-29 30-49 50-64 65+

Television 27% 45% 42% 85%

Internet 50% 49% 29% 20%

Radio 14% 27% 29% 24%

Newspaper 5% 10% 23% 48%

Television

More than half of Americans prefer television as their source of news

Channels that American adults use to consume news

American news readers are classified based on age groups

Source: Pew Research Centre, States of the News Media, Jan 12, 2016


The U.S. television industry is dominated by large, fragmented and market-oriented media groups. Although there is a not-for-profit public

broadcasting service provider called the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the government has no direct control over television stations. Polls over the

past decade have consistently shown that PBS is the most trusted national television network that provides unbiased and non-commercial news.

However, the U.S. television industry has been monopolized by the three giants since the 1950s. They are NBC, owned by NBC Universal; CBS, owned

by CBS Corporation; and ABC, owned by Disney. Today, besides these three media groups, Fox, owned by Twenty-First Century Fox, and The CW,

owned by CBS Corporation, are also active in the industry.

Top 3 television networks

Marketing

The United States Media Landscape White Paper