European Media Seek U.S. Pot of Gold

As print readership declines at home, Europe's news outlets are using their Web portals to expand into the U.S. market. Can they survive?

by Mark Scott

For many Brits, reading a daily newspaper remains a ritual of life as indelible as sipping a morning cup of tea or complaining about the weather. From down-market tabloids such as News Corp.'s (NWS) The Sun and Trinity Mirror's (TNI.L) The Daily Mirror, to the traditionally high-brow broadsheets such as The Times of London (also News Corp.) and Telegraph Media Group's The Daily Telegraph, Britain boasts a remarkable 13 daily national newspapers with a combined daily circulation of almost 12 million.

The industry has been hit hard, though, by declining advertising revenue over the last decade, as more and more readers turn to the Internet for breaking news. In response, British media outlets are increasingly looking abroad for expansion—especially to the U.S.—to shore up their bottom lines and exploit a growing thirst for credible international news coverage around the world.

Global Readers Flock to Web Sites

Stark numbers help explain why. According to the London-based Audit Bureau of Circulations, domestic British newspaper circulation during the six-month period from February, 2007, to July, 2007, fell 3.31% vs. a year earlier. But Web site traffic is on the upswing. Guardian Unlimited, for instance, the online portal for Britain's The Guardian newspaper, pulled in 16 million unique users globally in May, 2007, up 10.3% from a year earlier and a solid 122% higher than four years ago.

Even more impressive, nearly 6 million of the Guardian's visitors came from the U.S., compared with 4.4 million from Britain. "The strategy is to use the Web site to become a global brand," says Carolyn McCall, chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, the parent company of The Guardian newspaper. "By gaining as much exposure as possible, we can diversify our revenue, expand our reach, and increase our journalistic opportunities."

The Guardian has been ahead of the curve in reaching out to a non-British audience. That opportunity came to the fore during the aftermath of the second Iraq war, when the newspaper's left-of-center editorial stance against the conflict helped boost its global audience, particularly in the U.S.

The Guardian's U.S. Moves

Now, The Guardian is looking to cash in on its growing North American presence, adding additional reporters to its U.S. editorial team and targeting U.S. advertisers. In a project expected to take 18 months, the newspaper hopes to turn its Web site into the "leading liberal voice," by providing content directly tailored to a part of the U.S. audience not served by more conservative domestic publishers.